Women in Finance Charter

To drive our progress towards gender parity, we measure the number and percentage of women at all levels of the organisation. We are proud of the increase we have achieved so far, having already exceeded our goal of 50% women in leadership in the organisation.

Female representation in senior management

Increasing the representation of women in senior roles remains a key priority. Research has provided evidence to support the premise that people who differ from one another in gender, ethnicity or other characteristics bring a diversity of perspectives to an organisation which in turn enhances creativity and lessens group-think scenarios. Studies have shown that women in leadership provide organisations with greater innovation and increased growth.

To allow FSCS to leverage these benefits, it was agreed that an equal split in the management population would provide the diversity of thought, skills and innovation required to meet our challenging new strategy for the 2020s. We have introduced gender-diverse recruitment panels and deliver unconscious bias training for all staff. A female-specific leadership programme and new career pathway process was implemented in 2020, to equip female employees with the skills and abilities to progress into leadership roles.

When we signed up to the Women in Finance Charter in February 2018, we had 33% female representation in senior management. In September 2023, we had increased the representation in our Executive Team to 80% and our Board to 75%, making them predominantly female. Our Executive and Board representation have therefore exceeded the 50% target we set ourselves. Our overall female representation in senior management was 45% in September 2023, falling just short of our ambitious target.

We believe being bold and brave in our targets and actions is the way to achieve change, so we will continue to push for gender representation within our Senior Leadership Community.

Find out more about FSCS