A hundred creatives from working class backgrounds are lined up to give talks to state school children in socio-economic cold spots across England and Wales thanks to a new partnership.
Launching today on Social Mobility Day (12 June), Common People – the community for working class talent in the creative industries – is joining forces with education charity Working Options to address systemic inequalities impacting the creative workforce.
Led by founder of creative comms agency Work & Class Laura Burch and Common People co-founder Tom Armstrong, the initiative will see creatives from across South Yorkshire, Manchester, London, Bristol, Essex and East Sussex deliver 100 talks and school visits over the next academic year – starting this month. These creatives come from disciplines including advertising, design and media.
The volunteers taking part in the Common People Schools Tour 25/26 will visit state schools to share their stories and outline practical pathways into the industry. The talks are intended to raise awareness by helping students from underrepresented communities understand what roles exist, what they pay and how to take the first steps into a creative career.
‘Awareness, access, opportunity’: Creative industries urged to engage working class talent
The schools tour will include a flagship event where 100 state school students and industry professionals will come together to network, engage with a panel discussion and start building connections.
Other creative organisations are encouraged to partner with Working Options by offering time and talent to support the growing network of volunteer speakers.
The partners believe little has changed since research released in 2020 by the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre found only 16% of people in full-time creative jobs came from working class backgrounds – lower than the levels working in law, finance or academia.
“The creative sector talks a good game when it comes to diversity, but for young people from working class backgrounds, it still feels locked behind invisible walls,” says Burch.
“I for one had no idea that these jobs existed and found my way into the industry totally by chance. This initiative is about opening the door by showing kids the real, living proof that people like them have made it in – and they can too.”
At the root of this persistent lack of accessibility to creative careers is often a sense of not knowing where to begin, argues Armstrong.
“Or not being able to ask your dad’s mate who is a film director, or an ad exec to get you some work experience,” he adds.
“We’re flipping that by putting working class creatives directly in front of the next generation. We’re not just talking at them, but connecting to them and offering them access to the networks we never had.”
‘Unlocking talent’
The scale of the issue is considerable. The government estimates the UK creative industries contributed £124.6bn of gross value added to the UK economy in 2022 alone and as of 2023 employed 2.4 million people.
“This isn’t just about inspiration – it’s about common sense and unlocking talent, driving social mobility, and fuelling an industry that thrives on fresh voices,” says CEO of Working Options in Education, Sue Maskrey
She points out how important it is to open doors for young people given the latest Office for National Statistics figures found almost 1 million 16-24-year-olds were not in work, education or training as of December – an 11-year high.
Marketing Week’s own research reveals persistent issues around pay equality.
The exclusive 2025 Career & Salary Survey uncovered a socio-economic pay gap for full-time workers of 15.3%, flat compared to last year’s figure at 15.9%. Some 74% of the more than 3,500 marketers surveyed identify as middle-class, up on the 70.1% figure reported in 2024. The data found a socio-economic pay gap at every level of seniority.
The creative sector talks a good game when it comes to diversity, but for young people from working class backgrounds, it still feels locked behind invisible walls.
Laura Burch, Work & Class
To put this data into context, professionals from working class backgrounds are on average paid more than £6,000 – or 12% – less a year than more privileged peers working in the same role, according to data from the Social Mobility Foundation.
Based on this data, last year the foundation named 17 November Class Pay Gap Day – the point at which working class professionals effectively stop being paid until the end of the year, which equates to millions of people working one in every eight days for free.
Creative industries continue to lag behind law and finance when it comes to applications to the Social Mobility Foundation’s annual Employer Index, which ranks UK employers on the actions they are taking to open up to talent from all social backgrounds.
The 2024 index, published in October, saw legal firm Browne Jacobson and professional services giant PwC UK claim joint first place.
The foundation did, however, notice a “turnaround” in two industries with previously poor records on socio-economic diversity. The number of firms within the creative industries entering the index rose 43% in 2024, while there was a 60% annual increase in entrants from the tech sector.
Brands such as agency group Dentsu (51), PR firm Citypress (54) and the BBC (65) joined the 2024 Employer Index, alongside the likes of Amazon (47), the Co-op (34) and Aviva (15).
The Social Mobility Foundation is calling on the government to introduce mandatory data collection on socio-economic background for large employers, in the same way as gender pay gap reporting. In July 2024, the Co-op became the first UK retailer to publish its socio-economic pay gap, while Zurich became the first UK insurer to do so in February 2025.
Marketing Week’s Opening Up campaign is pushing for the democratisation of marketing careers. Read all the articles from the series so far here.
