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Social Mobility Pledge

 

Our work at Age UK Wandsworth is driven by a very simple belief: everyone in Wandsworth deserves the chance to thrive.

With this in mind, in 2025, we signed up to the Social Mobility Pledge in order to formalise our commitment to equity in our organisation and in all our work. We are proud to be the first in our network to sign up to the Pledge.

 

Impact of the Social Mobility Pledge

By signing the Pledge, Age UK Wandsworth is making a public commitment to take action across four key areas:

  • Outreach – partnering with schools and colleges to support careers advice, mentoring, and enrichment opportunities
  • Access – offering structured work experience and/or apprenticeship programmes to people from underrepresented or disadvantaged backgrounds
  • Recruitment – ensuring open and inclusive hiring practices that remove barriers to entry and progression
  • Progression – supporting employee development and progression to ensure that opportunity extends beyond getting in the door

The Social Mobility Pledge was launched by former Secretary of State for Education, Rt Hon Justine Greening, to encourage practical steps that employers can take to close the UK’s opportunity gap. Over 500 employers and institutions — collectively representing more than 7 million employees and students — have now signed the Pledge.

Rt Hon Justine Greening said:

“True social mobility means more than just recruitment— it’s about access, progression, and long-term opportunity.

I’m delighted to welcome Age UK Wandsworth as a signatory to the Social Mobility Pledge. Their commitment shows real leadership and reflects a growing movement of employers who are serious about making a difference.

We all benefit when talent can thrive — wherever it comes from.

What we do at Age UK Wandsworth

Using a variety of methods, we provide practical support and opportunities that empower people in Wandsworth to build brighter futures. By tackling root causes of inequality and working in partnership with other local organisations, we aim to create lasting change that strengthens our community, improves wellbeing, and opens doors for those who need it most.

Here are a few of the things we do at Age UK Wandsworth that demonstrate our commitment to social equity and to the aims of the Pledge:

 

Outreach

  • We offer work experience for young people aged 18+ studying in areas such as health and social care at South Thames College. We have been asked about offering placements to under 18s (without their teachers or lecturers), but we have a commitment to caring for vulnerable older people first and foremost and believe that we do not have capacity to divert staff time away to adequately safeguard under 18s in our settings.
  • We attend and speak at Career Days at South Thames Colle and University of Roehampton.
  • We partner with Brighter Together to support the development of young children in their confidence building, concentration, communication skills and readiness for school, whilst simultaneously bringing joy to lonely and isolated older residents in Wandsworth.
  • We provide musical opportunities throughout the year for school teachers to bring classes and choirs to build their students’ self-confidence as well as their performance experience by singing and playing at our day centre. Our most active schools are Chiswick School, Putney High School and Wandsworth Preparatory School.

 

Access

  • We offer work experience for young people aged 18+ studying in areas such as health and social care via Wandsworth Council’s BEST (Business and Education Succeeding Together) who arrange work experience placements for students from sixth form colleges and secondary schools students living in the Borough of Wandsworth and other neighbouring London boroughs.
  • We offer student placements for relevant undergraduate and postgraduate course students from King’s College, University of Roehampton, and UCL.
  • We have opportunities for hundreds of residents to volunteer with our charity to build up their connections and their experience so that they can stand out from the crowd when they are applying for jobs.

 

Recruitment

  • We have pledged to pay the London Living Wage so that our staff have a better chance of meeting the cost of living in an expensive city like London.
  • We have built meaningful relationships with staff at Wandsworth’s Job Centres, so we are able to go in and speak to residents about benefits they may be able to access, as well as offer volunteering opportunities at our organisation that can help pave the way to future employment success.
  • We offer an 18 month Youth Trustee Fellowship Scheme that gives young people aged between 19-25 the opportunity to shadow the Board of Age UK Wandsworth and gain hands-on training and experience in governance, leadership and strategy; learn how a charity operates at Board level; build professional connections that will help develop their personal and work skills; and develop their confidence in analysing information and decision-making in a group.
  • We partner with EPOC on a Board Fellowship Scheme to enable people of colour to observe our Board for 18 months. Throughout the placement, the EPOC Board Fellows gain practical experience operating as part of a Board, make valuable network connections, receive access to mentorship from a person of colour on the Board, and acquire a Chair's reference and support to apply for further Board positions.

 

Progression

  • We partner with Wandsworth Council and University of Roehampton to offer apprenticeship opportunities to our staff to upskill them and create new opportunities.
  • In 2026, we are introducing reverse mentoring to empower less experienced staff and trustees to mentor more senior staff and trustees. This helps us to foster an even deeper culture of inclusion and collaboration in our charity and support everyone involved to develop new leadership and communication skills, share expertise and build better relationships.

If you are interested in working with us, please email us at info@ageukwandsworth.org.uk with Social Mobility Pledge in the subject line – we look forward to hearing from you!