13 June, 2025

This week, an article in the FT caught our eye because of its optimistic vision and strong reminder of the powerful role business can play in driving social change. 

In “How to put Britain back on the opportunity escalator” Andy Haldane, Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Arts and former Chief Economist at the Bank of England invites us to imagine the UK in 2029 as a country transformed by government, business and communities working together to create better opportunities for young people.  

At the heart of this imagined future is the Lifting Lives (LL) programme, a bold blueprint for improving living standards and tackling barriers to opportunity. If the vision was realised, this programme would overturn many of the obstacles which currently hold people back. 

One of these obstacles is digital exclusion which remains very real now, with 40% of young people lacking broadband and a computer at home. The LL programme addresses this by giving every child a computer, and AI-enabled tutor and broadband access, levelling the digital playing field overnight. Who provides it? A coalition of technology companies working with the government.  

The LL programme also envisages funding for school careers advisory services in every school, with local businesses providing a structured programme of volunteers, talks and work experience for every 14 to 18-year-old. It sees business-led partnerships creating career pathways and apprenticeships tailored to meet local skills needs, while football clubs sponsor youth clubs and leisure centres to use sport as a vehicle for community connection and social mobility. 

Throughout the ideas proposed we see business playing a leading role, helping to realise young people’s potential, and working with government to create lasting change.  

Of course this isn’t all just the stuff of future scenario visions. Business is already embedded in social change. To take just one example, see our client nexfibre’s partnership with the charity UK Youth which is bringing full-fibre broadband to 1,000 youth centres across the UK via VMO2.  

But in a world where pessimism can feel like the default, it’s refreshing and exciting to think of what could happen if this was unleashed at full throttle into the future. 

By Charlotte Pounder