BRITISH children have the hardest struggle to escape poverty through work in the developed world, TUC researchers said yesterday.

The country’s dismal record on social mobility means that many people’s lives are determined by their parents’ income rather than their own efforts.

Along with Italy, Britain has the joint-highest level of earnings persistence — the extent to which people’s incomes are associated with those of their parents.

The TUC also warned that the situation is getting worse as the gap between  Britain’s richest and poorest households has grown ever wider since the Thatcher years.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “People’s incomes in Britain are more influenced by their parents’ wealth than in any other advanced country.

“This lack of social mobility holds millions of people back and means that they don’t get a fair share of the benefits of a growing economy, such as decent pay and educational opportunities.

“Worse still, rising inequality means that the price people pay for a lack of social mobility is getter bigger.”

The TUC’s Dismantling the Barriers to Social Mobility report noted that political parties’ proposals to tackle the problem are incoherent.

Researchers told politicians to focus their efforts on income inequality, childhood poverty, full-time women’s employment and the link between family background and educational performance.

The TUC said increasing the number of mothers in full-time work and pushing for a progressive work culture would help relieve the pressures of the other factors.

Ms O’Grady added: “Raising the full-time employment rates for mothers is an important way to boost social mobility and one we’d like all political parties to commit too.

“But with over six million people working part time in Britain time we also need to tackle the pay and career penalties faced by those who want — or need — to work shorter hours.”