There is a wide gap between younger and older people when it comes to whether they think an apprenticeship or university offers the best life chances.

The Social Mobility Commission’s barometer survey asked 5,000 people across the UK to consider what offers young people the best opportunities to progress in their life or career when they leave school.

Across all age groups, taking an apprenticeship came top at 30 per cent, compared with 26 per cent who said higher education, 14 per cent further education, 8 per cent who said going straight into employment and 22 per cent who either said something else or did not know.

Views on apprenticeships

However, the survey showed that respondents were more likely to think that taking an apprenticeship offered the best opportunity to progress the older they were.

Respondents aged 65-plus selected apprenticeships around twice as much as the next highest category (41 per cent for apprenticeships against 21 per cent for university), while those aged 18-24 were more likely to suggest higher education, with around one third suggesting this (34 per cent) compared with 20 per cent selecting apprenticeships.

In the survey, three-quarters of respondents said that poorer people are less likely to go to a top university and 64 per cent said they have less opportunity to get into a professional career

Dame Martina Milburn, the new chair of the Social Mobility Commission, said: “Forty per cent of respondents think it is getting harder for people from less advantaged backgrounds to move up in British society, almost twice as many as those who think it is becoming easier. This is a wake-up call for government and the rest of society alike.”