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 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.

Senior Data Analyst for SMC - Contingent Labour

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) requires a new corporate identity, including visual strategy, typography, tone of voice and style guide, to help unify its public facing outputs such as reports, publications and resources. As well as its public facing communication channels, such as its website and social media channels.

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.

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.