Growing up in Manchester, Mia Tanswell didn’t give her accent much thought – until her first week at university in Loughborough.

“I knew people were going to notice that I was northern and that I didn’t speak the ‘Queen’s English’,” the 22-year-old says.

“Definitely in seminars I would sometimes feel like my accent would sound a bit less intellectual than other people, especially if I was the only northern student in the classroom.”

She’s not alone. Fresh polling seen by the BBC suggests many workers still see so-called “accent bias” as a problem.

The survey found one in 10 people in Britain feel anxious or self-conscious about their accent in high stakes professional settings such as speaking up in a business meeting.

The research, conducted by the organisation More in Common of more than 3,300 adults across England, Scotland and Wales, found accent-related anxiety in work settings like these was highest among Geordies – from the region around Newcastle – and those with an east London – or Cockney – accent (at 19%), followed by people with a Welsh accent (at 18%).

Around 5% of respondents believed their accent had cost them a promotion, pay rise or senior role. “Brummies” – people from Birmingham – were the most likely to feel this, at 13%.

Respondents with a West Country accent reported the highest rate of having their accent mocked or criticised by colleagues, at 15%, followed by 13% of those with a Geordie accent.

The poll was commissioned by Common Ground, an organisation which aims to promote social cohesion. Its founder, Lara Newman, has worked in construction, property and the built environment industry for more than 30 years, and says she changed her own accent to get ahead in the workplace.

“I am incredibly realistic about what would have happened had I gone to university or gone into the workplace with a strong west country accent,” she says. “I felt like that was going to be an issue for me.”

Common Ground aims to support people from disadvantaged backgrounds into work but she says one of the layers creating a barrier to them is accent.

“I think there is a problem in the sense that [an accent] implies a level of education or otherwise. It implies class,” she says.

A review is being launched into the way business rates are calculated for pubs and hotels in England and Wales, and could lead to a reform of the system.

The Treasury says business rates expert Jerry Schurder will lead the review into rate valuations and report back in March 2027, with the government calling for the views of landlords, hoteliers and business owners to feed in to the process.

Last month, Andy Burnham announced a 20% cut in business rates for pubs, social clubs and live music venues in England, to come into effect in April.

Pub groups have argued they face disproportionately higher rates bills, but other businesses have called for a wider reform of the rates system.

According to the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), 161 pubs closed in the first three months of this year across England, Scotland and Wales, equating to the loss of around 2,400 jobs.

Rising business rates are cited as one issue facing the sector, although there have also been complaints that increases in National Insurance and the minimum wage have made staff costs more expensive.

James Murray, financial secretary to the Treasury, said the new review would look at “a rethink of valuations – so that we can build a fairer system for the future”.

Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the BBPA, said: “For years pubs have paid a disproportionately higher business rates bill which has ground down their ability to keep the doors open, so this review is sorely needed and hugely welcome.”

The BBPA says pubs are valued differently for rates than retail venues. Instead of being based just on floor area, they are judged by a measure called Fair Maintainable Trade – which means when a pub’s turnover increases, so does its rates bill.

Schurder is a former business rates policy lead at advisory firm Newmark UK, and his review will feed into the next rates revaluation in 2029.

His appointment was welcomed by Craig Beaumont of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) who said he would bring “crucial heavyweight business rates expertise into the Treasury”.

However, Beaumont said the government needed to address the wider business rates system and exempt more smaller firms by increasing the rates relief threshold for small businesses.

Tom Ironside from the British Retail Consortium also welcomed the review but said it was “vitally important that the needs of retailers are not overlooked”.

Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride said the review was “far too late for a sector this Labour government has already done its best to kill off”.

“Tax hikes on business premises and jobs, alongside job-destroying regulation in the Employment Rights Act, have left many hospitality businesses on the brink,” he said.

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper said reform of business rates was “long overdue”, but also called for an emergency VAT cut and a reverse to jobs tax changes “which have hammered hospitality in particular”.

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