City of London Corporation’s Socio-economic Diversity Taskforce - IFoA Roundtable

Opportunity to participate in a virtual Roundtable Discussion hosted by the IFoA in conjunction with the City of London Corporation’s Socio-economic Diversity Taskforce

In order to boost productivity and levelling up opportunities, HM Treasury and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) have commissioned the City of London Corporation to lead an independent taskforce. This taskforce is intended to improve socio-economic diversity at senior levels in UK financial and professional services. The taskforce has a vision of ‘equity of progression’ – where high performance is valued over ‘fit’ and ‘polish’.    

Matt Saker, IFoA President-elect will chair the Roundtable Discussion, which will be co-hosted by Kay Forsythe, partner at Deloitte and responsible for leading the Industry Consultation workstream for this initiative.  A number of themes will be discussed to better understand how Government, regulators and sector bodies can incentivise employer action in increasing socio-economic diversity at senior levels in the sector. You can book a place at this virtual session on 23 May 2022, from 14.30 to 16.00 to share your ideas on how to best advance socio-economic diversity across the sector and the actuarial profession.  Attendees are limited to only  a few places. Subject to demand, however, we may organise an additional session at a future date.

Social mobility is an important issue for all of us, for the actuarial profession and for the UK and global economy. Research from the Bridge Group shows that employees from non-professional backgrounds in the UK progress 25% slower than peers, with no link to job performance. These employees report they are exhausted by efforts to conform to dominant cultures, which in turn impacts individual productivity. To drive forward successful businesses, it is crucial that people from all backgrounds can perform to their potential and have their abilities recognised.