A new scheme aimed at helping around 100 young people from disadvantaged backgrounds into journalism has been launched by training bosses.

The National Council for Training of Journalists has joined forces with four further education colleges across the country in a bid to tackle the “appalling” lack of journalists in the industry who come from working class backgrounds.

The action comes after the NCTJ’s annual Diversity in Journalism report, published yesterday, found that 73pc of journalists coming from the highest social classes compared to 44pc of the general workforce.

The new scheme target 14 to 18-year-olds and encourage those from disadvantaged backgrounds and lower social economic groups to enter journalism.

The NCTJ plans to work initially with City of Liverpool College, Darlington College, Glasgow Clyde College and North West Regional College to target about 100 young people on to specially-designed programmes.

Each college has proposed and designed “inspiring and engaging” programmes to show that there is another way into journalism other than university and how journalism can be fun, varied, creative, challenging and, most of all, how it can offer them a viable career.

Joanne Butcher, pictured, chief executive of the NCTJ, said: “Following last year’s shocking headline in our diversity report, the appalling lack of social mobility in journalism, we are pleased to be investing in an ambitious outreach project.

“It will start small, working in partnership with some of our further education colleges that have pledged to work in their disadvantaged communities.

“Alongside this outreach work, we hope that setting up a taskforce of our university partners will find new ways of diversifying their journalism cohorts.

“Improving our communication is key; too many young people are signing up in ignorance for degree or other courses that do not give them the skills to compete for jobs in journalism with those who have the NCTJ.”

The NCTJ will administer grants to each further education college to create and deliver their respective programmes, which will begin later in the year. They include after-school courses, weekly sessions and summer schools.

Each programme will include the delivery of a unit from the NCTJ’s Certificate in Foundation Journalism qualification, engagement from a guest speaker and a group project, such as a news day or creating a Tik Tok video.

The NCTJ also plans to convene a taskforce on social mobility to diversify cohorts on NCTJ-accredited undergraduate university courses.

Lee Hall, head of school of media and communications at the University of Sunderland, has been appointed to chair the taskforce.

He said: “The journalism industry is missing out on a wealth of talent because people feel excluded and choose different paths. The taskforce will examine social mobility and focus on action to remove barriers.

“NCTJ qualifications open doors for aspiring journalists, so a key aim will be attracting more students to accredited courses.”

The report by research consultant Mark Splisbury found has been an increase in the proportion of journalists coming from non-white ethnic groups, up to 12pc in 2022 from 6pc in 2018, although only 6pc of editors are non-white.

New data further suggests that journalists classifying themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual or other are well-represented in the industry when compared to the whole population.

According to LFS data, 11pc of those working in journalism class themselves as such compared to 4pc across all UK industries.

Statistics released ahead of the report’s publication also revealed almost a quarter of UK journalists have a work-limiting health condition or disability.