In the UK, we’re missing out on thoughtful, brilliant, talented young people in education and the workforce because our systems are designed to put privilege before potential.

We work to make sure a young person’s social background doesn’t define their future. With our support, young people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds enter top universities and careers, and we re-design systems to ensure opportunity is a reality for all young people across the UK.

This year marks 20 years of the SMF. Since 2006, we’ve been working with and for young people across the UK to turn opportunity into a reality. Because when we foster young people’s potential, we strengthen entire communities.

We’re proud of our impact, of the young people’s journeys we’ve been part of. Proud to support future healthcare workers, innovators, legal minds, and business leaders. But, we’re still fighting an unequal system. Too many young people are still being held back by barriers they can’t control, the postcode they were born into or the school they attended.

Two decades ago, we didn’t want to live in a world where postcode defines potential. And we still don’t.

We are incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved, in the past year and over the past two decades of championing social mobility. For 20 years we have worked with and for young people, fostering their potential and challenging the barriers they face in education and the workplace. We celebrate our impact but we are clear that there is work still to be done and we are ready for the challenge.