Lower-achieving pupils from rich families earn more than talented poorer children, the Education Secretary has admitted.

Justine Greening was speaking at a conference on social mobility, which she described as a “cold, hard, economic imperative” for the country.

Ms Greening drew on her experience growing up in Rotherham as she outlined the challenges faced by poorer families.

“Children from high-income backgrounds who show signs of low academic ability at age five are 35 per cent more likely to become high earners than their poorer peers who show early signs of high ability,” Ms Greening said.

She added: “Graduates from disadvantaged backgrounds who do make it to the top jobs still earn, on average, over £2,200 a year less than their colleagues who happen to have been born to professional or managerial parents – even when they have the same educational attainment, the same role and the same experience.”

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Ms Greening said a “postcode lottery” of education funding was to blame, along with a failure to prepare vocational workers for progressing in their careers.

Last year, Prime Minister Theresa May made improving social mobility a priority for the Government.

In January, she vowed to fight “burning injustices that undermine the solidarity of our society”.

But campaigners have warned of the challenges facing the Government.

A Social Mobility Commission poll conducted last year found that 45 per cent of Britons believed “where you end up in society is mainly determined by your background and who your parents were”. Just 29 per cent of people believed Britain was meritocratic.

Alan Milburn, chair of the Commission, said “a new and far bigger national effort” was needed to reduce poverty and improve mobility.

“That will mean long-term and fundamental reforms to our country’s education system and local economies and in the labour and housing markets,” he explained.

Elitist Britain: Run by the privately educated Show all 7 1 /7 Elitist Britain: Run by the privately educated Elitist Britain: Run by the privately educated MPs Hardly a surprise: One in three (33 per cent) of MPs went to private school, compared to seven per cent of the public. This includes 52 per cent of Conservatives, 41 per cent of Liberal Democrats, and 10 per cent of Labour MPs PA Wire Elitist Britain: Run by the privately educated The media More than half of the top 100 media professionals (54 per cent) are privately educated, compared to 47 per cent in 1986. Half of them went to Oxbridge, while two thirds of new entrants to journalism have managerial and professional family backgrounds Getty Elitist Britain: Run by the privately educated Judges Although the Government is committed to ensuring a more diverse judiciary, seven in 10 senior judges went to independent schools Rex Features Elitist Britain: Run by the privately educated The England cricket team A large percentage of England's cricket team is privately educated: 33 per cent PA Elitist Britain: Run by the privately educated BBC executives 26 per cent of BBC executives went to private school. Getty Elitist Britain: Run by the privately educated Civil Service Over half (57 per cent) of Whitehall permanent secretaries are Oxbridge educated, while 11 per cent went to comprehensive schools Getty Elitist Britain: Run by the privately educated House of Lords Although it doesn't seem possible, the House of Lords is even more dominated by the elite than the Commons: two thirds of Conservative peers, half of Labour, and 62 per cent of crossbenchers attended an independent school. A miserable 12 per cent went to a comprehensive AFP/Getty

Paul Gregg, professor in economic and social policy at the University of Bath, added: “For children educated in the 1980s, Britain had an unenviable record of being a society where a person’s origin determined their destiny.

“Being among the least socially mobile countries in Europe and performing less well than it has had in previous generations, this has made social mobility a key issue for social policy in the UK.