Nick Clegg has launched a new policy group to advise the Liberal Democrats on social mobility issues.
The Commission on Social Mobility will advise the party on how to help children escape the cycle of depravation often passed on from their parents.
It will be chaired by Barnardo's chief executive Martin Narey, who is also a former chief executive of the National Offender Management Service, and six other commission members yet to be appointed.
"In 2007, a child born into deprivation is more likely to inherit his or her parents' disadvantage than at any time in our recent past," the Lib Dem leader said.
"It is utterly unacceptable that by the age of seven, a bright but poor child will be overtaken at school by a child who was struggling in pre-school years but is from a more affluent background.
"I want to know why it is that Britain's low levels of social mobility compare unfavourably with almost every other developed nation.
"Children should be free to realise their aspirations and not be held back by the circumstances of their birth."
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd