Severn Trent has today (15 Oct) been recognised as one of the UK’s top ten employers for its efforts in improving social mobility across the Midlands—ranking second overall, its highest ever placing.

The company has consistently placed in the top ten for the past seven years, reflecting its long-standing commitment to ensuring equal opportunities for people from all backgrounds.

This year’s Social Mobility Index includes 140 companies, with law firms Browne Jacobson and Linklaters taking first and third place in the 2025 index ran annually by the Social Mobility Foundation.

All those that enter are working to remove barriers and promote fair employment practices.

Severn Trent’s success is driven by initiatives such as:

• Recruiting more talent from lower socio-economic backgrounds
• Offering 500 work experience placements annually, primarily for young people, including those with care experience, NEET, or disabled.
• Launching a social recruitment programme just a year ago, which now accounts for 1% of its workforce—and continues to grow.
• Working with local authorities to provide paid internships to those that are long term unemployed

Neil Morrison, HR Director at Severn Trent, said: “We believe opportunity should be based on potential, not background.  Coming second in this year’s Social Mobility Index is a true testament to the dedication of our teams who work tirelessly to open doors and create pathways into employment across the Midlands. By unlocking talent in our communities we’re helping drive regional growth and prosperity, while improving social mobility – and we’re proud to be a force for good in both.”

Part of Severn Trent’s work has seen it develop programmes in partnership with local job centres, where it’s identified those experiencing barriers to work when the company is recruiting for 10 or more roles.

Over two days, participants take part in a series of professional development workshops, the free course covers essential skills, including confidence building, effective communication, and interview strategies with those who showed enthusiasm and potential were guaranteed interviews for available positions.

Through this work alone, the company has welcomed over 60 people into the business, talented people the company wouldn’t have met without the programme.

Deputy West Midlands Mayor, Sharon Thompson, has seen this programme first-hand she said: “It’s brilliant to see Severn Trent’s efforts to changing the dial on social mobility being recognised this way. It’s really important organisations such as Severn Trent provide jobs to the people of region, while embracing the diversity it has. While we’ve got high rates of unemployment and young people out of work, there’s an enormous amount of talent, so we need to change the narrative. We can only do that if we look give people new skills and the opportunity to feel confident and offer real jobs, to real people.”

Severn Trent has recently created a number of entry level roles across the Midlands, including Leicester, Birmingham, Coventry and Shropshire across it contact centres – where a percentage have joined through the social recruitment initiatives.

It has also welcomed over 90 apprentices in the business where it’s moved barriers to be more inclusive. This includes hosting assessment centres in multiple locations to reduce travel, adjusting dates to avoid exams, also having in-house English and Maths support, meaning it’s not necessary for applicants to already have those qualifications.

To learn more about current vacances at Severn Trent, and what it’s like to work at the company, visit severntrent.com.

To view the whole index visit: The Social Mobility Foundation