Social mobility has not improved AT ALL in years of Tory rule, a watchdog chief declared today.
Dame Martina Milburn poured a bucket of cold water on Theresa May's vow to tackle "burning injustices" when she took office almost three years ago.
And the chair of the Social Mobility Commission warned the "stagnation" could even give way to things getting worse.
Dame Martina was due to unveil her annual report this morning, after the previous commission resigned en masse in protest at the government.
Ahead of the report, she said of social mobility in the most recent four years: "It hasn't changed at all.
"All the research we've looked at - and there's no one reason, there's a whole host of reasons - but all the research shows us it hasn't changed at all."
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Dame Martina told BBC Radio 4's Today programme it was "too early to say" if austerity was to blame.
But she warned: "Our big concern is not the stagnation but as time goes by that it will actually get worse."
Her recommendations include making the government pay all its staff and contractors the Real Living Wage.
The so-called National Living Wage is actually just a £8.21 legal minimum for workers over 25.
The Real Living Wage is a voluntary rate of £9 an hour (£10.55 in London) that campaigners say is the minimum people need to get by.
Dame Martina also called for a "student premium" to give extra money to disadvantaged young people.
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And she said university body UCAS and the Office for Students must work together to highlight finance for poorer students.
But Education Secretary Damian Hinds refused to commit today to introducing the measures in the report.
"I don't think you expected me to come on the radio this morning and say immediately.. we're going to make changes in government policy," the top Tory told the BBC.
He said he would take the recommendations "seriously" and admitted "there's more we can do to encourage" employers.
He added: "As we develop government policies and come up to the spending review [this autumn], of course I will consider these points extremely seriously."
