Persimmon Homes partners with former Education Secretary to close Opportunity Gap
Persimmon Homes, the UK’s leading housebuilder, has launched its Opportunity Action Plan, in partnership with former Secretary of State for Education, Rt Hon Justine Greening, and the Social Mobility Pledge.
To mark the launch, Justine visited Persimmon’s Germany Beck site, where over 650 homes are being built, and was hosted by new CEO Dean Finch. She turned her hand to learning bricklaying, carpentry and joinery with Persimmon apprentices, Dylan and Katie.
The Opportunity Action Plan sets out Persimmon’s best practice and a series of ambitions that
Persimmon will work towards with the aim of ensuring that more people in local communities are connected up to career opportunities.
Persimmon is one of a pioneering group of UK businesses and universities aiming to set a new and higher standard on boosting social mobility in Britain, with boardroom focus on environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) issues.
The Social Mobility Pledge identified key areas of best practice in Persimmon's work, including how it has demonstrated a purpose-led people strategy with sector-leading levels of progression; a culture of wide access to opportunities; and a strong record of support for local communities around its sites, namely within its Building Futures and Community Champions programmes.
Persimmon has also worked with the Social Mobility Pledge to identify particular areas of low social mobility, and lower access to opportunities around the development sites it has across the UK. It will now look to focus its efforts towards these areas following the launch of the Plan.
The Social Mobility Pledge was set up by Justine Greening in 2018 and asks businesses and universities to commit to levelling up Britain by partnering with local schools, offering apprenticeships and using open and fair recruitment practices. So far more than 500 organisations, representing over seven million employees, have signed up.
The launch of Persimmon's Opportunity Action Plan is the culmination of months of work between the house builder and Justine, who identified Persimmon as a trail blazer purpose-led business in its efforts in boosting social mobility to date.
Justine Greening said:
“Achieving true social mobility in Britain and levelling up our country is a huge challenge but one that businesses and universities are rising to.
“Businesses like Persimmon Homes have a crucial role to play in the housebuilding sector and beyond; and can be an incredible force for good in spreading opportunities more evenly across communities and to people that have missed out for far too long.
“This all makes a real difference to people’s lives. I had the chance to meet Persimmon's star
apprentices, Dylan and Katie, on-site, who've had a world of opportunity opened to them since joining the company, with all the training, development and progression it can offer. However, as I experienced on-site, it will be a while until I can lay as many bricks as fast as Dylan.
“It is exciting that Persimmon is ambitious to go even further and is a strong example of how businesses can be a real force for good in local communities.
“By publishing this Opportunity Action Plan, Persimmon is raising the standard of how a business should create social value in local communities, and really bring the levelling up agenda to life on the ground.
“I hope many more businesses will follow Persimmon’s lead and consider how they can go further, faster in being a force for good in communities, for the customers, and with their colleagues.“