If all businesses in the UK were to invest significantly in social mobility, this could add up to £19bn to GDP, according to the cross-party think tank Demos. Financial services is one of many professional industries, alongside the creative sector, medicine and law, with a track record of elitism. “Social mobility is fundamental to a truly inclusive workplace culture,” says Woodford. It has also started collecting staff socio-economic data, so it can benchmark its progress in improving social mobility, committing to this as part of its membership of the financial services sector social mobility initiative Progress Together. Ensuring that funding from the levy reaches young people from lower socio-economic households could help these “earn while you learn” courses deliver on their social mobility potential.