Is finance making the grade when it comes to workforce diversity? – well in the case of people with disabilities at least, not really:
During 2017 approximately 10% of people working in finance positions were classed as disabled (i.e. according to definitions set out within the 2010 Equality Act) – compared with 12% amongst the workforce as a whole. Moreover this ‘lag’ of 2 percentage points is apparent when looking at each of the previous years for which data are available (2013 onward).
Lastly, when considering specific finance occupations, it appears that people with disabilities are notably less well represented amongst higher level occupations, and over the 2014-17 period just 6-7% of those working as; Financial Managers/ Directors, Financial institution Managers / Directors, Chartered/Certified accountants or Brokers were thought to have some form of disability (nb. a longer time frame is used here to meet ONS guidelines on data release and hence the finance/overall figures do not match those for 2017 only).