Britain’s universities are to tackle the danger of “unconscious bias” against students from black and minority ethnic backgrounds by removing candidates’ names from their application forms, David Cameron is to announce.

Amid fears that BME students are losing out to white contemporaries when they apply for university, the prime minister will say that Ucas will make its applications “name-blind” from 2017.

The move by Ucas, which acts as the central body for almost all university applications, is announced by the prime minister in a Guardian article ahead of a roundtable meeting in Downing Street to tackle discrimination in the workplace and in education.

The meeting will also discuss the government’s plans, outlined over the weekend, to intensify measures to close the gender pay gap. The prime minister and Nicky Morgan, the minister for women and equalities and also education secretary, announced a three point plan to:

Force larger companies to publish the size of bonuses for male and female employees as part of new duties on reporting the gender pay gap.



Update the law to force public sector bodies employing more than 250 people to join the private and voluntary sector in revealing the gap between men and women’s pay.



Encourage businesses to eliminate all-male boards in the FTSE-350.



Morgan told The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday: “In terms of the reporting [of pay levels] I think it does concentrate minds. When companies see the gender pay gap in their own company of their employees, including bonuses, I think that does then start to change behaviours. It [creates] conversations in the company – female employees can say: well actually hang on, how come the men are being paid [more]?”



Those in attendance at the meeting include David Barnes, managing partner at accountancy and consultancy firm Deloitte; the head of human resources at HSBC, Tanuj Kapilashrami; the civil service chief executive, John Manzoni, who has agreed that “name-blind recruitment” will apply to all post below the senior service; the chief executive of NHS England, Simon Stevens; the head of corporate affairs at KPMG, Marianne Fallon; and the BBC’s director of strategy and digital and former Labour cabinet minister, James Purnell.

Downing Street is hailing the move by Ucas as a significant step in Cameron’s new drive to deliver what he described in his Conservative party conference speech earlier this month as “real equality” in the workplace and in educational institutions. Citing the example of a black woman, who had to change her name to Elizabeth to secure a job interview, Cameron told the Tory conference: “You can’t have true opportunity without real equality.”

It is understood that the Ucas will identify candidates by a code, possibly a number, when students’ application forms are sent to universities for an initial assessment. But a candidate’s educational background will be known on the grounds that it is essential in assessing whether they merit a place. If a candidate is granted an interview the university would then be told their name.

The prime minister will announce on Monday that a series of leading employers in the public and private sectors have agreed to recruit candidates on a name blind basis. The organisations, including the BBC, the NHS, the civil service outside the highest ranks, KPMG and HSBC, employ 1.8 million people.

Deloitte will say that it is going a step further and blanking out the name of a candidate’s school and university during the interview process. David Sproul, chief executive of Deloitte, said: “The introduction of name-blind recruitment processes and school and university-blind interviews will help prevent unconscious bias and ensure that job offers are made on the basis of potential – not ethnicity, gender or past personal circumstance.”

In his Guardian article, the prime minister writes that Britain’s legislation on equalities is important but says that it has not eradicated what he calls “more subtle discrimination”. Employers need to tackle this in what he describes as innovative ways.

“For all the legislation we have passed, discrimination still persists. It’s no longer signs on doors that say: ‘no blacks allowed’; it’s quieter and more subtle discrimination,” writes Cameron.

“It’s the disappointment of not getting your first choice of university place; it’s being passed over for promotion and not knowing why; it’s organisations that recruit in their own image and aren’t confident enough to do something different, like employing a disabled person or a young black man or woman. You won’t change these attitudes simply through more laws, but in smarter, more innovative ways.”

Cameron adds: “Britain has come so far, but the long march to an equal society isn’t over. Today’s announcement is not the only thing we can do, but it’s a milestone. And it means that a young black woman knows she’ll get a fair shot when she applies for the job of her dreams.”

Mary Curnock, the U cas chief executive, said she would be consulting universities and colleges on introducing the change “as well as a wider range of changes which could impact applications from BME students. This is a good time to consider such changes as part of the wider redevelopment of our application management service.

“One of the benefits of our unique national admissions service means that it is possible both to identify and address issues of under-representation. Ucas is deeply committed to increasing participation from disadvantaged groups.

“Our analysis shows that entry rates to higher education for young students from black and ethnic minority groups have increased since 2006. The entry rate for English 18-year-old state school students recorded in the black ethnic group has increased from 20.9% in 2006 to 34.3% in 2014 – a proportional increase of 64%.”