Winner of inaugural AI and Social Mobility Challenge Prize announced at Parliament

AI challenge highlights new ways to unlock opportunity for young people

30 October 2026, London, UK

Image: AI and Social Mobility Challenge Prize, Cohort 2026. Image credit: Tom Sharman, EY

With almost one million young people in the UK outside education, employment or training, widening access to learning and work remains a pressing challenge. A new competition has highlighted how AI technology could help young people too often left behind access opportunities and succeed in the workplace. For young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds, barriers to career advice, professional networks, training and employment can often limit opportunities to progress. As AI changes how people learn, find jobs, and work, we need to ensure these young people can benefit from the opportunities it creates.

The inaugural AI and Social Mobility Challenge Prize explored this potential in practice. It supported eight ventures developing AI and emerging technology solutions that help young people navigate opportunities, build skills and reach their full potential through work. Their approaches include career navigation, personalised learning, mentoring and inclusive recruitment. The programme combined expert support, mentoring, peer learning and funding to help ventures strengthen their solutions and their potential impact. EY Foundation’s Youth Voice Forum, including young people with lived experience of barriers to social mobility, helped keep their experiences and needs at the heart of the programme.

The AI and Social Mobility Challenge Prize was delivered by EY Foundation and Social Tech Trust, in partnership with the Social Mobility Commission, and supported by Microsoft, HSF Kramer, EY, Fieldfisher, and LinkedIn.

Tangent, which uses AI to widen access to professional knowledge, mentoring and networks, was named the winner. MyPocketSkill, an AI-powered platform helping young people access paid work, develop employability skills and build healthy financial habits, was recognised as runner-up.

Both demonstrated how technology could address practical barriers to opportunity, combining an understanding of young people’s needs with solutions capable of reaching more people.

The awards were announced at a House of Commons event on 29 October 2026. Speakers included Darren Hardman, CEO of Microsoft UK and Ireland, and Jeremy Walden, Executive Partner, UK & EMEA, at HSF Kramer. Alun Francis OBE, Chair of the Social Mobility Commission, also spoke at the event, which was sponsored by Lauren Edwards MP.

More than 140 ventures applied to the Challenge Prize. The eight finalists received expert support and connections to investors, funders and wider networks to help develop and grow their solutions.

Tangent was selected by an independent judging panel for its understanding of the barriers young people face and its innovative, scalable application of AI. The platform enables experienced professionals to create AI-powered digital twins that share their knowledge and offer personalised guidance on CVs, interviews and career development, extending access to advice beyond traditional mentoring relationships. Tangent reports a community of more than 50,000 users and 2,000 mentors, over 25,000 professional connections and more than 400 people from lower socio-economic backgrounds securing opportunities through its community.

The panel recognised MyPocketSkill for bringing together earning, learning and financial education, turning a first paid opportunity into a foundation for future success. Its platform matches young people aged 13 to 25 with paid opportunities based on their skills, availability, location and track record, while an AI assistant provides practical guidance and financial education supports them as they start earning. MyPocketSkill reports 250,000 sign-ups, with bookings generating more than £1 million for the Gen Z economy.

Both ventures were shaped by their founders’ experiences of navigating opportunity without established networks. Tangent founder Gary Izunwa grew up in a low-income, single-parent household and later saw how recruitment could favour candidates with privileged connections. MyPocketSkill co-founders Zara Ransley, who moved to the UK as a teenager, and Matthew Harker, the first in his family to attend university, also experienced the challenges of navigating unfamiliar systems without access to networks and connections.

Gary Izunwa, founder of Tangent, said: “We’re incredibly proud that Tangent has been recognised by the AI and Social Mobility Challenge Prize. Too often, getting a great job depends as much on who you know as what you can do. By using AI to make professional knowledge and mentorship more accessible, we want to give every young person the support and networks they need to succeed. This recognition will help us build a fairer world of work, where background doesn’t determine opportunity.”

Matthew Harker, co-founder of MyPocketSkill, said: “We’re delighted that MyPocketSkill has been recognised by the AI and Social Mobility Challenge Prize. A first paid opportunity can change a young person’s life, building not just income but confidence, employability skills and healthy financial habits. This recognition will help us reach more young people, connecting earning and learning so that everyone has a fairer chance to build financial independence and long-term success.”

Alun Francis, Chair of the Social Mobility Commission, said: “The growth of AI presents a significant opportunity to improve social mobility, creating new businesses, career pathways and high-skilled jobs. But we must ensure these opportunities reach young people across all backgrounds and all parts of the country, otherwise we risk reinforcing existing inequalities. That means investing in digital skills, widening access to technology careers and directing support towards communities that have too often been left behind.”

Lynne Peabody, CEO at EY Foundation, said: “Young people’s futures should be shaped by their talents and aspirations, yet too often those from low-income backgrounds continue to face barriers to education and employment. As AI changes the world of work, their experiences must help shape how it is developed and used. This Challenge Prize brought young people and innovators together to explore practical ways to widen opportunity. We congratulate the winner and the runner-up, and all eight finalists, for their commitment to that ambition. And for putting a spotlight on how AI can be harnessed to unlock opportunity for young people too often left behind.”

Edward Evans, CEO at Social Tech Trust, said: “There’s no shortage of ambition to use AI for social good. The real challenge is ensuring we use it in ways that widen opportunity rather than deepen the inequalities that hold too many young people back. Through the Challenge Prize, Social Tech Trust and our partners have seen the breadth of ventures taking on that challenge, with our eight ambitious finalists representing a much wider ecosystem of talented founders building solutions. The barriers to social mobility remain substantial. By combining AI with investment, expertise and strong partnerships, we have new ways to tackle those barriers and help founders make a real difference to young people’s lives, now and in the future.”

The Challenge Prize has highlighted the potential for responsibly developed technology to widen opportunity. Through funding, expert support and collaboration with young people, the programme helped ventures strengthen solutions designed around the barriers young people face.