UK Public Sector Contracts & Tenders

The Social Mobility Commission (SMC) monitors progress towards improving social mobility in the UK and promotes social mobility in England. It is an independent statutory body created by an Act of Parliament. As part of its remit, the Commission undertakes an annual State of the Nation report. This report is part of the Commission's statutory duty to monitor UK-wide progress on social mobility each year. The production and synthesis of key statistics related to social mobility will be the central part for the report, which will be published by 31 March 2023, in order to examine, for example, social mobility 'hot' and 'cold' spots in the UK, and break down social mobility by protected characteristics. For 2023, the SMC will, for the first time, fully operationalise its new Social Mobility Index: a refreshed measurement framework (the SMI). The new framework completely revises the previous social mobility index, which ran from 2016 to 2017. The new and improved SMI offers a much more accurate and robust framework to measure social mobility. It includes four main components: drivers (or enablers), intermediate outcomes (such as educational attainment) and their relationship to socio-economic background; the overlap between socio-economic background and characteristics such as sex, ethnicity, disability and place; and eventual social mobility outcomes with respect to occupation, income, education, housing and wealth. The 2023 report will therefore have some similarities to the 2017 and 2022 State of the Nation Reports. It will build on the work of these reports to analyse the social and economic drivers and indicators of people's social mobility. As the old index did, we envision this updated one to also assess how social mobility outcomes compare in national, regional and local geographic places. We focus on measuring the extent to which rates of social mobility are improving over time in the UK and across the different parts of the UK, and which specific groups in society have greater or lesser chances of social mobility. The SMC is looking for a supplier who can provide robust analyses both from cross-sectional and longitudinal perspectives, and interpret these statistics to give a clear narrative about what they mean for social mobility. The SMC is seeking a supplier who can work with the secretariat to provide analytical and statistical outputs and provide clear instruction for how the team can conduct the same analyses in future. Replicable analytical procedures form a key component of what we require to ensure the team gains analytical independence to conduct the same analyses in future. The SMC also expects a supplier to bring a high level of quality assurance to the work, arranging for independent analytical checks throughout the project. Additionally, having the ability to interpret and support the SMC to provide a narrative around these findings is vital, particularly in light of the wide-ranging impacts of Covid-19 on social mobility. The SMC will therefore be assessing bids both for evidence of being able to deliver the analytical work and interpreting the findings in a wider social mobility context. Please see the Jaggaer e-procurement portal. https://crowncommercialservice.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.html for the Invitation to Tender (ITT) document and further details. Bidders must submit their Bids before 12 Noon on 2 May 2022. All Bids must be submitted through the Jaggaer e-procurement portal. https://crowncommercialservice.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.html Failure to return Bids by the time and due date or in the required format may disqualify Bidders from consideration.

The Social Mobility Commission (SMC) monitors progress towards improving social mobility in the UK and promotes social mobility in England. It is an independent statutory body created by an Act of Parliament. As part of its remit, the Commission undertakes an annual State of the Nation report. This report is part of the Commission's statutory duty to monitor UK-wide progress on social mobility each year. The production and synthesis of key statistics related to social mobility will be the central part for the report, which will be published by 31 March 2023, in order to examine, for example, social mobility 'hot' and 'cold' spots in the UK, and break down social mobility by protected characteristics. For 2023, the SMC will, for the first time, fully operationalise its new Social Mobility Index: a refreshed measurement framework (the SMI). The new framework completely revises the previous social mobility index, which ran from 2016 to 2017. The new and improved SMI offers a much more accurate and robust framework to measure social mobility. It includes four main components: drivers (or enablers), intermediate outcomes (such as educational attainment) and their relationship to socio-economic background; the overlap between socio-economic background and characteristics such as sex, ethnicity, disability and place; and eventual social mobility outcomes with respect to occupation, income, education, housing and wealth. The 2023 report will therefore have some similarities to the 2017 and 2022 State of the Nation Reports. It will build on the work of these reports to analyse the social and economic drivers and indicators of people's social mobility. We envision this updated one will assess how social mobility outcomes compare in national, regional and local geographic places. We focus on measuring the extent to which rates of social mobility are improving over time in the UK and across the different parts of the UK, and which specific groups in society have greater or lesser chances of social mobility. The SMC is looking for a supplier who can provide robust analyses both from cross-sectional and longitudinal perspectives, and interpret these statistics to give a clear narrative about what they mean for social mobility. Replicable analytical procedures form a key component of what we require to ensure the team gains analytical independence to conduct the same analyses in future. The SMC also expects a supplier to bring a high level of quality assurance to the work, arranging for independent analytical checks throughout the project. The SMC will therefore be assessing bids both for evidence of being able to deliver the analytical work and interpreting the findings in a wider social mobility context. Bidders must submit their Bids before 12 Noon on 16 May 2022. All Bids must be submitted to contact@socialmobilitycommission.gov.uk. Failure to return Bids by the time and due date or in the required format may disqualify Bidders from consideration.

The Social Mobility Commission (SMC) monitors progress towards improving social mobility in the UK and promotes social mobility in England. It is an independent statutory body created by an Act of Parliament. The SMC is looking to procure subject-matter experts to provide advice on a range of issues that impact social mobility: Academic: Education (Lot 1) Measurement (quantitative analysis) (Lot 2) Routes to employment and the labour market (Lot 3) Families expert (Lot 4) Research surveys - design, development and application (Lot 5) Policy: Education (schools) (Lot 6) Education (further education) (Lot 7) Families expert (Lot 8) Levelling up - geographic/ regional inequalities (Lot 9) The experts will consist of both academic leaders in their field as well as seasoned policy experts. The final number of experts recruited will depend on the quality of bids received and budget considerations, however, the SMC would like at least one expert per thematic interest. If successful in the tendering process, the expert will have a unique opportunity to help shape the SMC's mission of improving social mobility for all. The Commission intends to use advice arising from this contract to inform our thinking - the Commission does not expect suppliers to engage on our behalf. A key task will be to provide input into the Social Mobility Commission's annual statutory report, The State of the Nation. This is laid before Parliament each year. In 2023 we expect to launch the report in September 2023. On a more ongoing basis, we will request experts to be a sounding board for us - on our research pipeline, our policy recommendations, as well as when we are scoping new areas that may have causal links to social mobility. Anyone who is successful in this tender will not be excluded from bidding for future contracts offered by the SMC. Nor will provide any advantages in being considered for future bids for SMC contracts. To avoid a conflict of interest, experts would not be expected to advise on work they have been separately contracted by the SMC to do. In this case, we would aim to allocate experts to work where there is no such conflict of interest. Length of Bids Bids should not exceed a total of 2 pages per role (excluding CV, publication list, declarations/annex). Any bids above that will not be considered. The font size should not be smaller than 11. Embedded links or files will not be considered. Bidders must also please complete and submit the 'Declarations' (Document 5). Bidders must also complete and submit the 'Conflict of Interest' (Annex One). Bidders must submit their bids by Wednesday 19 July 2023 at noon to the Social Mobility Commission: contact@socialmobilitycommission.gov.uk. Failure to return bids by the time and due date or in the required format may disqualify bidders from consideration.

The Social Mobility Commission (SMC) monitors progress towards improving social mobility in the UK and promotes social mobility in England. It is an independent statutory body created by an Act of Parliament and is sponsored by the Cabinet Office. As part of its remit, the Commission undertakes an annual "State of the Nation" report. This report is part of the Commission's statutory duty to monitor UK-wide progress on social mobility each year. The production and synthesis of key statistics related to social mobility will be part of the report, which will be published in autumn 2024. The Commission is seeking a supplier to provide updated analysis for inclusion in our State of the Nation report this year. The successful supplier will create the statistics for the report and work with our internal report team to interpret and build a narrative around them. This report will then be laid before Parliament. The SMC wishes to continue building and improving on its Social Mobility Index and data explorer tool. The new and improved Index offers a much more accurate and robust framework to measure social mobility. It includes three main components: drivers (or enablers); intermediate outcomes (such as educational attainment) and their relationship to socio-economic background, with breakdowns by geography and protected characteristics such as sex, ethnicity, and disability, and their interactions with socio-economic background; and full social mobility outcomes with respect to occupation, income, education, housing and wealth (see www. https://social-mobility.data.gov.uk/ for the full suite of indicators and Annex 1 Table 1 for more information on what is needed for the upcoming report). For 2024, our aim is to improve and report on the five "composite indices" that were first published in 2023. These indices collectively summarise 15 individual indicators, and so allow a greater level of geographical detail, as well as being clearer for the public. The indices are: Based on intermediate outcomes: - Promising Prospects - Precarious Situations Based on drivers of social mobility: - Childhood poverty and Disadvantage - Sociocultural Advantage - Research and Development Environment Bidders must submit their Bids before 4 pm on 6 December 2023. All Bids must be submitted to contact@socialmobilitycommission.gov.uk. Failure to return Bids by the time and due date or in the required format may disqualify Bidders from consideration.

The Social Mobility Commission (SMC) is interested in commissioning research to understand regional disparities and challenges in areas with poor mobility and prosperity. Our motivation stems from the need to understand the complex issues that keep some areas, and people, from thriving. State of the Nation 2023 (SoN23) shows very clear inequalities of mobility across the country, captured in our regional analysis of mobility rates and drivers. But the findings also show that descriptive statistics, even when split by protected characteristics and socio-economic background, cannot fully capture underlying causes. Every pattern has exceptions, and not every cause can be brought out by the data. Our current Index uses the best available data to construct regional indicators of early-life mobility outcomes, and of the drivers of mobility. The drivers of social mobility in our Index are there because there is evidence that they affect aggregate rates of social mobility at a national level. Yet, at lower geographical levels, there are individuals and local factors affecting social mobility, and for many of these, no data is currently available. So the Commission is keen to develop a comprehensive research project, or "deep dive", which will consider the complex, co-occurring and compounding factors that contribute to low social mobility at the individual and local level.

The purpose of this competition is to procure a supplier who can conduct quantitative analysis to identify the factors associated with good and bad social mobility outcomes, both at the geographic and household level.

The Social Mobility Commission (SMC) monitors progress towards improving social mobility in the UK and promotes social mobility in England. It is an independent statutory body created by an Act of Parliament and is sponsored by the Cabinet Office. The SMC is interested in understanding more about the people and places with poor social mobility. We are therefore seeking expert suppliers who can conduct quantitative analysis to identify the factors associated with good and bad social mobility outcomes, both at the geographic and household level. Examples of subjects considered as part of this analysis might be the role of local labour markets, educational institutions and income deprivation at the geographical level, and family composition and parental behaviours at the household level. The successful supplier will provide original analysis across a range of datasets and comprehensive and compelling narrative in a final report. The SMC wishes to continue building and improving on our evidence base. Our State of the Nation 2023 (SON23) research shows very clear inequalities of mobility across the country, captured in our regional analysis of mobility rates. We have a robust understanding of the areas with high and low levels of social mobility across the UK, but only in a descriptive sense. We are therefore keen to understand more about the economic and individual characteristics of these areas that drive these outcomes. This will include a detailed analysis of the key characteristics of low-mobility areas, including the role of economic, household and family factors, and the crucial differences between these and higher-mobility areas. This is the second stage of a multi-year, mixed methods research project - the 'Deepdive' into low mobility areas. The first stage, currently ongoing, is a qualitative research project, covering people's understanding and experience of, and attitudes towards, social mobility and its enablers. This analysis is unlikely to provide definitive causal conclusions, but will help to draw out clear conclusions on the implications for policy and further research. Ultimately, the Commission aims to have a better understanding of the key factors which shape, influence and enable social mobility at the local level, allowing policymakers to be more precise in their approaches to improving social mobility in the UK. Bidders must submit their Bids before 4pm on 18 October 2024. All Bids must be submitted to contact@socialmobilitycommission.gov.uk. Failure to return Bids by the time and due date or in the required format may disqualify Bidders from consideration.

The Social Mobility Commission (SMC) monitors progress towards improving social mobility in the UK and promotes social mobility in England. It is an independent statutory body created by an Act of Parliament and is sponsored by the Cabinet Office. The SMC is interested in understanding more about how people perceive social mobility in the UK. We are seeking expert suppliers who can conduct primary polling on public attitudes towards social mobility, as well as how people in the UK perceive their own prospects in relation to that of their parents across key areas like education, employment and housing. The successful supplier will provide a range of deliverables, including assistance with questionnaire design, fieldwork, full data tables and quality assurance over final outputs. For the survey, we require a sample of at least 4,000 adults across the UK (aged 18 and above). We also require specific demographic data to be collected to allow for comparison between groups across each of the survey questions - these are sometimes referred to as 'crossbreaks'. The SMC wishes to continue building and improving on our evidence base. Our State of the Nation research provides a comprehensive evidence base on how the UK has 'performed' across different indicators of social mobility (ie, educational, occupational and housing mobility), as well as the underlying drivers of social mobility. We aim to supplement our evidence base, assessing the extent to which people's perceptions of social mobility, align with the findings from our State of the Nation research. We would also like to explore how the perceptions of social mobility might differ across different demographics, social classes and regions. We have worked with external suppliers on perceptions work previously, through our Social Mobility Barometer research. We would be interested to see if and how attitudes/perceptions of social mobility have changed over recent years. Like with previous iterations of this research, this analysis is designed mainly to be descriptive and informative. We do not expect this research to provide definitive causal conclusions, nor do we anticipate this research will be used to inform or shape policy directly. Ultimately, the Commission requires this research to provide a snapshot of the overarching sentiments towards social mobility in the UK in a clear and robust manner. Bidders must submit their Bids before 4pm Friday 25th October 2024. All Bids must be submitted to contact@socialmobilitycommission.gov.uk. Failure to return Bids by the time and due date or in the required format may disqualify Bidders from consideration.

The Social Mobility Commission (SMC) monitors progress towards improving social mobility in the UK and promotes social mobility in England. It is an independent statutory body created by an Act of Parliament and is sponsored by the Cabinet Office. As part of its remit, the Commission undertakes an annual "State of the Nation" report. This report is part of the Commission's statutory duty to monitor UK-wide progress on social mobility each year. The production and synthesis of key statistics related to social mobility will be part of the reports that will be published in the autumns of 2025 and 2026. The Commission is seeking a supplier to provide updated analysis for the 2025 and 2026 reports. The supplier will help to create the statistics for the reports and work with our internal report team to interpret and build a narrative around them. These reports will then be laid before Parliament. The SMC wishes to continue building and improving on its Social Mobility Index and data explorer tool. Additionally, to commemorate 15 years since its inception, for the 2025 report, the SMC would like to include a retrospective focus by looking at how social mobility has changed over time, through the lens of the Index. For the 2026 report, the SMC is yet to decide on its focus, but we would like to update the index with the latest available data and include a narrative of the trends observed in the report. The SMC's index offers an accurate and robust framework to measure social mobility. It includes three main components each of which consist of multiple indicators: Drivers: These are background conditions which enable social mobility such as availability of high quality schooling. Intermediate outcomes: These are early social mobility outcomes of young people which are observed from the school years into post-18 education and then into the labour market. These are measured across different socio-economic backgrounds and broken down by geography and protected characteristics such as sex, ethnicity, and disability. Mobility outcomes: These are the full social mobility outcomes of people once they have reached their 50s. We measure this across five dimensions: occupation, income, education, housing and wealth. See our Data Explorer Tool for the full suite of indicators and Annex 1 Table 1 for more information on what is needed for the upcoming report. The full tender document is below, which outlines the full details of the project. Bidders must submit their Bids before 4pm on 18 November 2024. All Bids must be submitted to contact@socialmobilitycommission.gov.uk. Failure to return Bids by the time and due date or in the required format may disqualify Bidders from consideration.

The Social Mobility Commission is interested in conducting research to understand the lived experiences of young people who are NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training), the factors that lead to them becoming and remaining NEET, and the barriers to effective support. Our motivation stems from wanting to understand how and why risk factors interact, and understanding the interaction between structural and individual factors areas of concern. This also aligns with the Social Mobility Commission's place-based and local-insight led approach because a one-size-fits-all national policy towards social mobility does not consider specific regional barriers or issues. Existing quantitative research offers a robust understanding of the scale, trends, and key risk factors for NEETs, but it highlights a growing and evolving challenge. The scale is significant. As of September 2025, an estimated 946,000 16-24 year-olds in the UK are NEET, representing 12.7% of this age group and a notable rise since 2021. The growth is being primarily driven by a shift towards economic inactivity, often due to sickness or disability, which now accounts for roughly three in five NEETs. Crucially, national trends mask considerable local variation, with high-risk areas such as the North East England (15%) and Blackpool, underscoring the need for a place-based approach to research. Blackpool, in particular stands out as an acute example of this place-based challenge due to the high intensity and confluence of social mobility barriers that amplify the risk of young people becoming NEET. Its weak local labour market, reliant on a seasonal service sector, is evidenced by high economic inactivity (28.4% for 16-64 year olds) and high unemployment-related benefit claims. This is compounded by significant underlying risk factors: the NEET rate for 16-17 year-olds is estimated at 8.9% (compared to the English rate of 5.6%), educational attainment is low (GCSE Attainment 8 score of 34.8% vs. national 46.1%), a high proportion of disabled residents and unpaid carers, and it has nearly three times the national average of looked after children. These intersecting, compounding factors make it an area which the Commission wants to initially focus on for in-depth, place-based research. Beyond geography, the NEET population is diverse, but disproportionately represented by certain characteristics, including older NEETs (18-24 year olds), young people with disabilities (29% NEET rate), and those with low educational qualifications. Indeed, research has underlined that risk factors are often interrelated and compounding, meaning factors like low qualifications, disability, and socioeconomic background significantly increase the likelihood of a young person becoming NEET. However, there are key gaps in the research: - There is a need for qualitative research to explore the subjective lived experiences of being NEET, particularly how complex, co-occurring, and compounding factors (e.g. education, local labour market, family background, mental and physical health) contribute at the individual and local level. - Existing qualitative work is often limited by a conceptual or individualistic focus (e.g., self-perception or self-determination) and has not adequately applied a social mobility lens. This leaves a critical gap in understanding the interaction between individual circumstances and broader structural factors. - Some significant sub-groups, such as older NEETs (18-24), young men, and disabled individuals, remain understudied. - Research needs to provide rich contextual insights between different high-risk areas and offer a more in-depth consideration of the impact of regional/local labour markets (e.g. in Blackpool or North East England). - There is limited understanding of effective protective factors, social support, and structural systems. - There is a lack of co-produced, participatory research with NEET young people. Combined with this, the policy context surrounding NEETs offers an opportunity for the research to contribute meaningfully to wider discussions on the topic. These include, the Get Britain Working White Paper, the launch of national Trailblazer schemes, the Millburn Review into youth inactivity all makes this a pertinent time to build understanding of lived experiences of NEET young people, and inform interventions. Please find attached the full tender document, which outlines more details and the procurement schedule. An electronic copy of your tender must be submitted to contact@socialmobilitycommission.gov.uk no later than 4pm on 26 January 2026. Late tenders will not be considered.

Project Description The Social Mobility Commission (SMC) monitors progress towards improving social mobility in the UK and promotes social mobility in England. It is an independent statutory body created by an Act of Parliament. The SMC is interested in conducting research to understand those who are long-term welfare recipients and the factors preventing them from progressing socially and economically. Our motivation stems from wanting to understand the characteristics of long-term welfare recipients, how they utilise the welfare system and the individual and systemic factors that prevent progress. Background The UK welfare system has evolved over time. Post-World War II, the 1942 Beveridge report and 1948 National Assistance Act, saw the initiation of a comprehensive, non-means-tested system of social security designed to act as a financial safety net. The system was intended to act as a 'trampoline' supporting people in times of need, before returning to self sufficiency. However, there are arguments that the current system prevents those at the lowest socioeconomic levels from moving upwards. The mechanisms for the welfare system affecting long-term dependency are influenced by a complex combination of systemic and individual factors and little is known about those who are long-term dependent and how to support them. Objectives The SMC's primary objective is to answer the research question: What prevents people who are long term recipients of welfare from progressing socially and economically? To begin to answer this question, we wish to conduct quantitative research to provide an understanding of 'long term welfare recipients'. This will include: 1) Defining who is a long term welfare recipient. What is the prevalence and what are the core demographic and socio-economic factors that define this group? 2) What are the flows of people into and out of long term welfare receipt? Do people get 'stuck' on welfare? 3) What socio demographic characteristics and structural factors are associated with people flowing into and out of long term welfare receipt? Through this research, SMC will gain a rich understanding of individuals who are long term welfare recipients, their characteristics, and the sociodemographic characteristics that are associated with moving into and out of dependency. This evidence will inform a separate qualitative workstream (out of scope of this tender). Employing a systems thinking approach, the SMC will convene experts across the working and policy level for a series of workshops (e.g. incorporating work coaches, DWP officials, academics, think-tanks and charities). These sessions will map the interconnected components of the system surrounding long-term welfare use. It will build on descriptive evidence of those who are long term welfare recipients, to identify critical patterns, relationships, and feedback loops both at the individual and system level. In tandem with the quantitative research proposed in this tender, this holistic mapping will support SMC's wider aspirations to understand systemic barriers to progress and provide policy recommendations to reduce welfare dependency. (The supplier is not expected to recommend interventions or make wider policy recommendations.) Deliverables Deliverable 1: The supplier will provide an analysis plan for the proposed research. This will include a robust and rigorous quantitative methodology. We anticipate the method utilising existing longitudinal data such as Understanding Society or similar. Specifically, the analysis we would like the supplier to conduct is: - To define those who are long term welfare recipients within the data. This will require development of a suitable definition, to be agreed with the SMC. For instance, identifying those of working age who state they have not been in employment in the last 12 months and are receiving means-tested benefits. - Identify prevalence of long term welfare recipients and their wider characteristics. This will include descriptive analysis of core demographic and socio-economic factors. - We also welcome proposals for inclusion of pen portraits to illustrate types of people who are long term welfare recipients. This may utilise methods such as cluster analysis or predicted probabilities to understand types of characteristics of long term welfare recipients. - Flow analysis, utilising longitudinal data to understand the flows of people into and out of long term welfare receipt. - Exploration of socio-demographic changes that are associated with people moving into or out of long term welfare receipt. The supplier is expected to submit their own plan for ensuring the analysis utilises suitable data sources, is methodologically robust and has proportionate quality assurance processes. Deliverable date, April 30th 2026. Deliverable 2: A comprehensive literature review of what is known about those who are long term welfare recipients, barriers to progress and effective strategies for improving the social mobility of this group. This will draw on both quantitative and qualitative insights from existing literature. We expect this to be circa 5,000 words and written to be accessible to SMC's audience (see Deliverable 4). Deliverable date, June 2026. Deliverable 3: Longitudinal analysis. The supplier will be expected to undertake a rigorous, transparent longitudinal analysis in line with the agreed analysis plan. The supplier will work collaboratively with the SMC to ensure analysis meets the needs of the organisation and will be expected to share and present emerging findings. A slide deck of emerging findings should be provided to support our qualitative research workstream in June 2026. Deliverable 4: A full report summarising methodology, findings, including all writing and drafting, and support with dissemination. We require the supplier to conduct all of the drafting of the report. However, SMC will have editorial input into the final SMC branded product to ensure the output meets internal standards and conveys the messaging of the research accurately. As such, suppliers should produce an initial draft and receive comments from SMC. The audience for this report is expected to be a mix of policy-makers, social mobility researchers/academics/practitioners, and the public. Therefore, the outputs should reflect the diverse audience i.e. there should be an executive summary for policy-makers, findings should be written in non-technical language/plain English for the public and attention should be given to ensuring wide accessibility and easy interpretation of the information. The final report should be complete by August 2026. More information is available in the attached tender notice document. Bidders must submit their Bids before 12:0 midday on 11 March 2026. All Bids must be submitted to contact@socialmobilitycommission.gov.uk. Failure to return Bids by the time and due date or in the required format may disqualify Bidders from consideration.

Project Description: The Social Mobility Commission (SMC) monitors progress towards improving social mobility in the UK and promotes social mobility in England. It is an independent statutory body created by an Act of Parliament. The SMC is interested in conducting research to understand how levels of dynamism and innovation vary across the UK. Our desire to produce this stems from a commitment that we made in our EGIG Report, which explored innovation, investment and renewal across the UK. Background: The UK is one of the most regionally unequal economies in the developed world. Productivity in Greater Manchester is 35% below that of London. Closing the productivity gap between Manchester and London to that observed between Lyon and Paris would increase total Gross Value Added (GVA) by £13 billion a year (in 2019 prices), a 0.7 per cent boost to national productivity. In East Yorkshire, the odds of climbing the income ladder are far lower than in Surrey or Sussex. While opportunities for high paying, good careers are largely concentrated in London. If we want a society where talent and effort are rewarded, these cycles must be broken. Business and economic dynamism is central to this task. Dynamic economies are more productive, have greater growth, and higher wages. They also have greater levels of social mobility, discussed next. The definition of "dynamism": For the purposes of this work, "economic dynamism" is defined as the rate of structural change, fluidity, and renewal within an economy. It is distinct from simple economic growth or historical wealth. A dynamic economy is characterised by creative destruction - the continuous churn of business creation and closure, the rapid reallocation of labour to more productive uses, and the physical and demographic capacity to absorb new ideas and talent. The resulting index must measure this velocity and fluidity, identifying which areas of the UK present the fewest structural barriers to new entrants, innovators, and workers seeking upward mobility. Objectives The objectives of this research are to: 1. Generate a single score Social Mobility and Dynamism Index, improving on the US Index of State Dynamism. This should include similar indicators as the US index including core startup rate, share of workers at firms less than five years old, growth in total firms, unique inventors per 1,000 residents, housing permits per 1,000 residents, reallocation rate, labour force participation rate, and migration rate. However, the Commission is open to include other measures, including but not limited to: Moving average of births and deaths of firms as a % of active firms over the last 5 years; Moving average of housing completions per 1000 residents over the last 5 years; Time-series regression slope of ONS APS labour-force participation rate; Moving average of internal net and international net inward migration over the last 5 years; Moving average of the share of firms aged 5 and under over the last 5 years; Moving average of jobs created plus jobs destroyed, divided by work-age population; Time-series regression slope of proportion of adults with Level 4+ qualifications; Time-series regression slope of GVA per head. Other metrics that should be considered include the Commission's Promising Prospects (PP) composite index. The PP index measures how well young people from similar socio-economic backgrounds do in education and the labour market, and is used in the SMC's annual State of the Nation publication. It is also available as an interactive dashboard on the SMC website. The Social Mobility and Dynamism Index should be available at different spatial levels such as Local Authority, Mayoral Combined Authority/Mayoral Strategic Authority, ITL3, and ITL1. It should also be interactive and allows users to understand how each of the components of the index interact and influence each other. The index should allow us to better understand how specific strengths and/or weaknesses are related to the local socio-economic context, and to look for comparators across different parts of the UK. The index also needs to look at change over time. The idea is to capture improvement and growth, not just the top of the performance table, which will always favour London and the South East. 2, Produce a full technical report and additional lay technical document detailing methodology used. These should include details on each of the indicators, the data used, the strengths and weaknesses of the approach. 3. Produce a detailed report which outlines key findings and an accompanying full dataset with all findings. This should also outline why the Social Mobility and Dynamism Index is important, and how to interpret its results. Deliverables: - Deliverable 1: The supplier will provide an analysis plan for the proposed research. This will include a robust and rigorous quantitative methodology. - Deliverable 2: Construction of an interactive single score Social Mobility and Dynamism index (online tool) which brings together all the indicators outlined in the objectives. This should be produced in R (or similar) as a prototype and be compatible with the SMC website, where it will be uploaded. This should meet our accessibility guidelines. - Deliverable 3: A cleaned dataset in a separate CSV or spreadsheet containing all the data in the index is also required. - Deliverable 4: A technical specification document outlining the methodology in detailed terms and lay summary presented alongside which explains each step required to produce the index. - Deliverable 5: A final report and support with dissemination. We require the supplier to conduct all of the drafting of the report. More information is available in the attached tender notice document. Bidders must submit their Bids before 12:0 midday on 25th March 2026. All Bids must be submitted to contact@socialmobilitycommission.gov.uk. Failure to return Bids by the time and due date or in the required format may disqualify Bidders from consideration.