CIOT Chief Executive Peter Fanning represented the Institute at the launch today of a Social Mobility Toolkit for the Professions at RICS’ headquarters in Parliament Square.
The toolkit has been produced by Professions for Good, the umbrella group for professional bodies, including the CIOT, with a combined membership of 1.2 million people. It can be downloaded here.
http://www.professionsforgood.com
The toolkit includes a great deal of background on why social mobility is important, including why it makes good business sense, as well as case studies and best practice advice for both professional bodies and individual employers on monitoring and improving social mobility.
This project has top-level government backing. Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, said: "Professions for Good has created an impressive resource illustrating the importance of social mobility and giving everyone a fair chance. Britain's workplaces need to open up. Great strides are being made, but more is still to be done and I encourage all employers to join in."
The CIOT and ATT have issued a joint press statement http://www.tax.org.uk/media_centre/Press+Releases/social_mob_push welcoming the initiative. We believe our profession has much to be proud of in terms of accessibility and our contribution to social mobility (it is instructive that both Patrick Stevens and Stuart McKinnon are able to refer to their personal experiences early in their career in their comments in the press statement). But it is always right to explore if we should be doing more and that is what the Institute will reviewing over the course of the year, using the new toolkit as a resource to assist us.
It is also worth noting Stuart McKinnon’s challenge in the press statement to all members of the profession who have at some time been given a similar break to his which enabled them to get onto the career ladder in tax: take on one trainee and give them the break you got.
The Institute is always keen to hear from members with ideas, so if you have any in this area do please get in touch with me at gcrozier@tax.org.uk.
George Crozier
CIOT External Relations Manager
Friday 2 March 2012
