“I grew up in Oldham, one of the most deprived areas in the UK, and my journey into accountancy began via a school leaver scheme with PwC. This route into the profession shaped my commitment to championing alternatives to traditional graduate routes and supporting students to navigate the professional landscape. As a Trustee of Access Accountancy, I bring a wealth of experience and passion for improving social mobility.
Since 2015, I’ve been actively involved with Access Accountancy. I have a deep understanding of social mobility, social inclusion and student recruitment. Coupled with first-hand experience as a chartered accountant through a non-traditional route, I aim to use my expertise to improve access and progression within professional services for young people from diverse backgrounds.
While the accountancy profession has made a lot of progress, it faces challenges in truly supporting social mobility. Outreach and recruitment are incredibly important but there’s a need for employers to gather socio-economic background data and focus on clear progression routes. It’s crucial to raise awareness of the different pathways into the accountancy profession, and to make sure that once in the profession, people from lower socio-economic backgrounds can succeed and progress at the same rate as their peers.
In my role as an Access Accountancy Trustee, I hope to drive change, encouraging employers to focus on social mobility from recruitment, to progression, and to advocacy. This involves supporting students and employees to navigate the system and advocating for a shift in how candidates are evaluated.
For employers looking to improve social mobility, I would give them three top tips:
- Appoint a senior leader to champion social mobility initiatives.
- Learn from work already taking place across diversity areas like gender and ethnicity.
- Set clear objectives and targets which include senior buy-in.
When we focus on all aspects of social mobility and make ourselves accountable, we can work towards an environment where young people from all backgrounds can thrive.”