Penguin Random House UK has today (12 July) announced a two-year partnership with the National Literacy Trust, an independent charity dedicated to transforming lives through literacy. This partnership underscores Penguin Random House’s commitment to improving social mobility in the UK, in support of our wider mission to help close the creativity gap.
Literacy continues to be one of the major and most urgent barriers facing social mobility in the UK. Research from the National Literacy Trust currently shows that:
- One in six adults in England and Northern Ireland currently lack the literacy skills expected of an 11 year-old.
- In England, struggling to read is more closely linked to the risk of being unemployed than in any other developed country.
- For children, England is also one of the most unequal countries in terms of children’s reading levels, second only to Romania in the EU.
- The gap between the strongest and weakest readers is equivalent to seven years of schooling. Children living in poverty face a much greater risk of falling behind than their peers.
Using the power of books, Penguin Random House wants this partnership to give thousands of disadvantaged children, young people and families in the UK’s poorest communities the skills and creativity to help them get a job, escape poverty and be successful in life. To deliver on this ambition, we are supporting a number of different initiatives run by the charity through an extensive colleague volunteering programme, colleague fundraising, and a goal to donate 150,000 books to National Literacy Trust hubs in disadvantaged areas across the UK.