UK social mobility at its worst in over 50 years, report finds

Institute for Fiscal Studies finds stark disparities in earnings based on geography and ethnicity

Moving up the social ladder in Britain has become harder than at any point in more than half a century for children born into poor households, according to the country's foremost economic thinktank.

Exposing a striking breakdown in social mobility, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said those growing up in the north of England and the Midlands, as well as those from a minority ethnic background, would find it a lot harder than others to become wealthier than their parents.