Women In Finance Charter

Women In Finance Charter logo

This is a commitment by HM Treasury and signatory firms to work together to build a more balanced and fair industry. Firms that sign up to this Charter are pledging to be the best businesses in the sector.

 

The Charter reflects the government’s aspiration to see gender balance at all levels across financial services firms. A balanced workforce is good for business – it is good for customers, for profitability and workplace culture, and is increasingly attractive for investors.

 

The Charter commits firms to supporting the progression of women into senior roles in the financial services sector by focusing on the executive pipeline and the mid-tier level; recognises the diversity of the sector and that firms will have different starting points – each firm should therefore set its own targets and implement the right strategy for their organisation; requires firms to publicly report on progress to deliver against these internal targets to support the transparency and accountability needed to drive change.

 

In 2019 Pepper UK Limited pledged to promote gender diversity by:

  • having one member of our senior executive team who is responsible and accountable for gender diversity and inclusion
  • setting internal targets for gender diversity in our senior management
  • publishing progress annually against these targets in reports on our website
  • having an intention to ensure the pay of the senior executive team is linked to delivery against these internal targets on gender diversity

Our commitment in 2019 was to maintain 50% or more women in senior management. By December 2020 this was achieved and, in all years, since we have either exceeded or maintained this target. As we’ve grown our business, we have also built out the representation of women at the group level with additional senior female hires in the period. Our target is to maintain this diverse leadership quota permanently.

 

In 2023 we have 50% females in senior leadership roles. Across all levels of our people manager positions we have 36% female representation. This figure is fairly well reflective of a business of our size with 48% females overall. This level of female representation has increased since our commitment in 2019 and is very much reflective of internal support and growth opportunities.

 

Our target is to continue to focus on diverse representation in our recruitment for all roles and we are committed to ensuring a fair and consistent approach during the selection process.

 

In 2022 we significantly enhanced our family friendly policies, which have a clear focus on making it financially easier to commit to family, but also advantageous to return to a career in finance, including but not limited to maternity, paternity and miscarriage.

 

We have a well-established apprentice intake programme, which is equally diverse (shortlisted for awards with both CIPD and Personnel today in 2022), as we focus on growing talent and future leaders, and addressing the issue of NEETs (not in education, employment or training) in the local community.

 

We will continue to explore opportunities for diverse and forward-thinking leadership as we grow our business through 2024.