Newsroom bosses have been urged to address issues around the social class backgrounds of their workforces as a “priority”.

Research consultant Mark Spilsbury has issued the warning in his annual report for the National Council for the Training of Journalism into diversity in the industry.

In the report, Mark predicted it was “likely” that the under-representation of lower social groups in journalism will continue – echoing the same prediction he made last year.

However, he did find some improvements to the diversity of newsrooms – including a decrease in the proportion of journalists from white ethnic groups and a “good gender balance”, with 49pc of senior roles being held by women.

In the report’s foreword, NCTJ chief executive Joanne Butcher wrote: “It is heartening that there is good progress with gender balance, including at senior editorial levels where there had been concerns that there may be gender disparity.

“Progress has also been made with the employment of journalists with disabilities and health issues.

“To some extent, there has been an improvement in ethnicity representation although there is still more work to be done.

“What is worrying is that there are clearly issues associated with promoting those from non-white ethnic groups into more senior editorial roles.

“There are also ongoing issues with social class which need to be addressed as a priority. This is linked to journalism being a ‘graduate-level’ occupation with most new entrants being selected from a highly educated graduate pool.

“As those in higher education are not representative of the wider population, then (without specific targeting) neither will those who are recruited into journalism from university.”

Mark’s research found the proportion of editors from non-white ethnic backgrounds is only 10pc compared to 14pc in junior roles.

He also revealed 80pc of journalists had a parent in one of the three highest occupational groups, compared to 42pc of all UK workers, while just 2pc have a parent in the lowest two occupational groups compared to 20pc of all workers.

Addressing these issues, Mark added: “The continued very high levels of qualification attainment of journalists may be a reason behind this.  Journalism employers (mainly) recruit graduates as new entrants, but entrants to higher education are not themselves representative of the wider population.

“To the extent that journalism continues to recruit mainly from a pool which is itself under-representative of individuals from lower social groups, it is likely that under-representation will continue.”

Explaining the NCTJ’s role in tackling such issues, Joanne highlighted the organisation’s “diversity and inclusion action plan”.

Elements of the plan include working with universities to increase the proportion of their students from outside the higher social class backgrounds and encouraging employers to examine their recruitment and career development practices.

She also noted plans to expand schemes including the Journalism Diversity Fund, the Community News Project and the Journalism Skills Academy, as well as helping to increase the number of apprenticeships available across the industry.

Wrote Joanne: “We know we need to do more and that is what we are currently debating at the NCTJ and with our partners. Expect to see greater investment and the introduction of more interventions designed to make a difference.”