Honours system is changing to recognise more working class heroes

The drive to be more representative applies to geographical distribution, as last year’s BBC survey showed in the New Year 2025. The north of England has just 6% of the top prize winners despite having 23% of the UK population.

The latest evidence based on 2026 Birthday rewards shows that the higher reward figure in the north of England has more than doubled to 13%.

However, it is still significantly below the population share; Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and most parts of England are underrepresented.

This is due to the dominance of London and the south-east of England; In these latest awards, 27% of the UK population hold 56% of higher degrees.

Lawrence says it helps that his appointment to the committee is not from the capital or the southeast.

In the 2026 New Year awards:

There is an effort to expand the candidate pool. This includes finding people using different networks such as social media and LinkedIn, rather than through the contacts of the Lord Lieutenants, the King’s local representatives.

The need for more nominations for people with disabilities was also highlighted; because the current honor rate is still well below the 22% share of the population.

The past year has seen some honor blind spots overcome. Rugby league, a traditionally working-class northern sport, has never had a knighted representative in 130 years, leading to allegations of snobbery.

That changed last summer when Sir Billy Boston was knighted.