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Housing departments could be subject to a new legal duty to make them put social mobility policies at the heart of everything they do.

In a white paper on social mobility, New opportunities, the government says it will consider bringing in new laws to ensure that ‘tackling social-economic disadvantage and narrowing gaps in outcomes for people from different backgrounds is a core function of key public services’. This could take the form of a new duty on public bodies.

Professor John Hills, the academic whose 2007 government-commissioned report on the role of social housing kick-started the current debate about its future, is now chairing a National Equality Panel. The panel’s findings will shape the government’s thinking on whether new laws are needed to ensure public bodies prioritise social mobility and how they should be applied.

This week’s white paper from the Cabinet Office also sets out plans for a £15 million ‘New communities fund’, which will be introduced this spring to support the regeneration work of the Homes and Communities Agency.

The NCF will support around 10 local authority pilot programmes to improve the opportunities of local people. Residents will be involved in designing plans for the future of their area.

In August the government plans to launch a £10 million inspiring communities campaign, inviting neighbourhoods to design and deliver a set of initiatives to raise the aspirations of young people in their communities.