INEQUALITY will remain entrenched in Britain “from birth to work” without urgent government action, the Social Mobility Commission warned yesterday.

Social mobility has remained “virtually stagnant” since 2014, the government advisory body’s State of the Nation report reveals.

People from better-off backgrounds were almost 80 per cent more likely to be in a professional job than their working-class peers, the report found.

Only 34 per cent of those from working-class backgrounds had professional jobs last year, compared with 60 per cent of those from professional backgrounds, the Commission said.

Even when those from working-class backgrounds succeeded in entering the professions, they earned on average 17 per cent less than their more privileged colleagues.

Working-class women in professional jobs were paid 35 per cent less than men from more affluent backgrounds. Despite overall employment levels increasing, people from working-class backgrounds still faced higher levels of unemployment.

“Being born disadvantaged means you may have to overcome a series of barriers to ensure you and your children are not stuck in the same trap,” said commission chair Martina Milburn, who took over after commissioners resigned over government policies.

The body called on the government to provide additional funding for older teenagers in education, to pay the living wage to all employees and contracted workers and to extend free childcare to more low-income families in order to break down barriers.

Labour’s shadow education secretary Angela Rayner said the commission has echoed the party’s concerns about the “devastating” impact of children’s centre closures and school funding cuts.

“The legacy of the Tories will be a country in which shocking levels of inequality have been entrenched,” she said. “Labour will deal with this crisis and address deep and entrenched inequality by redistributing wealth and power so that our country works for the many, not just the few.”

While increasing numbers of students from disadvantaged backgrounds were entering university, they were more likely to drop out before graduating.

University and College Union acting general secretary Paul Cottrell said: “The government’s decisions to cut the education maintenance allowance (EMA) and university maintenance grants were pernicious moves that hit students who most needed support to stay on and get on in education the hardest.”

Joseph Rowntree Foundation chief executive Campbell Robb called on the government to urgently prioritise investment in skills and better-paid jobs in places where people are locked out of opportunity.

“No child should have their prospects limited because of their background,” he said.