Inclusion Measurement Framework Report 2024

The 2024 results show women make up only 28% of the sector’s workforce, a slight decline from last year, while promotion rates remain relatively high at 32.7% across the entire workforce.

However, ethnic minority employees account for just 7.8% of those promoted, a significant decrease from 19.9% in 2023, and represent only 8.9% of the sector workforce, a decrease from 12.6% year on year, moving further away from the UK’s ethnic minority workforce representation of 14%. There is a significant skew away from ethnic minority candidates across the recruitment stages, most noticeable at management level. 

People with declared disabilities make up only 3.3% of the sector’s workforce, compared to 18% in the broader UK workforce and LGBTQ+ representation has reduced from 2.6% in 2023 to 1.9% in 2024. Another concerning trend is the high rate of employees from underrepresented groups and younger people leaving the sector. Although 20% of the workforce is nearing retirement age, most leavers are between 26 and 35 years old. There is an urgent need to understand why employees are leaving and take steps to improve retention.