61+ Diversity in Business Statistics UK

Diversity in business is no longer just an HR talking point. It is a measurable driver of revenue, innovation, and talent retention — and the UK data makes a compelling case.

This article pulls together more than 60 verified statistics on diversity in UK businesses, covering gender, ethnicity, disability, and more. Every figure is sourced from government publications, the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the Parker Review, and leading research bodies. We have included the publication year alongside every statistic so you can judge its currency for yourself.

Whether you are a business owner, HR professional, or researcher, these numbers give you an honest picture of where UK workplaces stand today — and how far there is still to go.

Key Highlights at a Glance

Before diving into each category, here are some of the most striking numbers from across all areas of diversity in UK business.

Gender Diversity Statistics

Gender representation has improved steadily at the board level, but the picture becomes less encouraging further down the corporate ladder.

Women in Leadership and Business Ownership

1. 42.8% of FTSE 100 directorships were held by women as of January 2025, according to the Cranfield University Female FTSE Board Report 2025.
2. Women hold 43% of board roles and 35% of leadership roles in FTSE 350 companies, based on the FTSE Women Leaders Review 2025 report (covering 2024 data).
3. The UK ranks second globally for the percentage of women on boards, behind only France (45%), which operates a formal quota system.
4. Only 14% of SMEs with employees were led by women in 2024, down from 15% in 2023, according to the government’s Small Business Survey.
5. Around 10% of women in the UK economy were early-stage entrepreneurs in 2023, compared to approximately 12% of men.
6. Among the top 50 largest private companies and partnerships, women held 31% of board positions — unchanged from the previous year.
7. The number of female CEOs among the top 50 private companies has declined from 12 in 2022 to 8 in 2024.
8. 57% of UK businesses now consider equality, diversity, and inclusion a strategic priority in recruitment, based on a 2023 survey of over 400 UK organisations.

Gender Pay Gap Statistics

The gender pay gap in the UK continues to close, but progress is slow. The full-time pay gap today is roughly the same as it was in 2020, meaning nearly five years have passed with little movement on that specific measure.

Current Pay Gap Figures (ONS, 2025)

9. The median gender pay gap for all employees was 12.8% in April 2025, down from 13.1% in April 2024. On average, women in the UK earn approximately 87 pence for every pound a man earns.
10. For full-time employees only, the median pay gap was 6.9% in April 2025, a slight decrease from 7.1% in 2024.
11. Over the last decade, the full-time gender pay gap has fallen by more than a quarter.
12. The pay gap for part-time employees was negative 2.9% in April 2025, meaning women in part-time roles earned slightly more than men in part-time roles on average.
13. The gender pay gap is larger for employees aged 40 and over than for those under 40.
14. Women’s hourly pay lags behind men’s in all nine major occupation groups for full-time employees.
15. In 2024–25, 78% of reporting employers stated that median hourly pay was higher for men, while 14% said it was higher for women and 9% reported equal pay, based on data from the government’s gender pay gap reporting service.
16. Over 16.5 million people in the UK hold full-time roles where the gender pay gap is 1% or higher in favour of men.
17. The private sector gender pay gap for full-time employees is 12.5%, compared to 8.8% in the public sector.
18. The gender pay gap for workers aged 18 to 21 was just -0.5% (favouring women), compared to 12.1% for workers in their 50s.

Ethnic Diversity in Business

Ethnic diversity at the board level has reached record highs in 2025–26, largely driven by the Parker Review’s voluntary targets. However, senior management pipelines remain thin, and representation varies significantly between ethnic groups.

FTSE Board Representation

19. As of 31 December 2025, 98 out of 100 FTSE 100 companies had at least one ethnic minority director on their board — a record high, and a substantial increase from just 47 companies in 2015 (Parker Review, 2026).
20. Ethnic minorities now hold 20% of all FTSE 100 board positions (208 out of 1,063 seats), up from 19% in 2024.
21. In the FTSE 250, 205 companies have at least one minority ethnic director, representing 82% of the index.
22. Ethnic minorities hold 16% of FTSE 250 board seats, up from 15% in 2024.
23. There are now 14 ethnic minority CEOs leading FTSE 100 companies — the highest number ever recorded.
24. Ethnic minorities represent on average 11% of UK-based senior management in FTSE 100 companies and 10% in FTSE 250 companies (December 2025).
25. Despite overall progress, Black directors hold only 2.3% of FTSE 100 board positions, compared to 3.9% of the UK population aged 30–69.
26. Black representation in UK-based senior management across the FTSE 100 stands at 1.3%, down slightly from 1.5% in 2024.
27. Women make up 49% of ethnic minority directors in both the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250, showing balanced gender representation at board level among this group.

SMEs and Self-Employment

28. Around 11% of UK self-employed business owners identify as being from a minority ethnic group, according to ONS estimates cited in the House of Commons Library for 2024.
29. Only 6% of UK SMEs with employees were led by people from a minority ethnic group in 2024.
30. Around 19% of non-White people in the UK economy were early-stage entrepreneurs in 2023, compared to around 9% of White people — suggesting entrepreneurship is a key route for ethnic minority business creation.
31. Ethnic minority businesses contribute an estimated £74 billion annually to the UK economy, highlighting the economic scale of diverse entrepreneurship.

Disability and Employment

Disabled people remain significantly underrepresented in the UK workforce, and the pay gap between disabled and non-disabled workers has grown wider over the past decade, not narrower.

Employment Gap

32. The disability employment gap — the difference between the employment rates of disabled and non-disabled people — was 29.7 percentage points in Q2 2025, according to the DWP’s Employment of Disabled People 2025 report.
33. The disability employment rate was 53.1% in Q2 2024, compared to 81.6% for non-disabled people.
34. There were 5.6 million disabled people in employment in the UK in Q2 2024.
35. The disability unemployment rate was 6.9% in Q2 2024, compared to 3.6% for non-disabled people.
36. Disabled workers move out of employment at a rate of 10.1% per year on average (2014–2024), compared to 4.6% for non-disabled workers.
37. Disabled workers are more likely to be on zero-hours contracts (4.0%) than non-disabled workers (2.8%).
38. Disabled people are more likely to be in low-paid work (17%) compared to non-disabled workers (12%).
39. Disabled people of Black, African, Caribbean, or Black British background face the largest combined disadvantage, with a disability employment gap of 21.7 percentage points within minority ethnic groups.
40. The government estimates that closing the disability employment gap could add £17 billion annually to the UK economy.

Disability Pay Gap

41. The median disability pay gap in the UK was 12.7%, with non-disabled employees earning a median of £15.69 per hour compared to £13.69 for disabled employees (ONS, Disability Pay Gaps in the UK, 2024).
42. The TUC calculated a disability pay gap of 17.2% using 2023–24 data, equivalent to £2.35 less per hour — or roughly £4,300 less per year — for disabled workers.
43. The disability pay gap is wider for men (15.5%) than for women (9.6%).
44. Employees with autism experience one of the widest pay gaps at 27.9%, alongside those with epilepsy (26.9%) and severe learning difficulties (20.3%).
45. Disabled workers who are significantly limited in day-to-day activities face a pay gap of 17.1%.
46. A 2024 Deloitte report found that 40% of disabled or chronically ill employees had faced bullying or harassment at work, with 24% saying they had been overlooked for promotion because of their disability.

Diversity and Business Performance

The commercial case for diversity is now backed by years of large-scale research. The relationship between diverse leadership and financial outperformance has strengthened consistently over time.

Financial Outperformance

47. Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams were 39% more likely to outperform financially than those in the bottom quartile (McKinsey, Diversity Matters Even More, 2023).
48. Companies in the top quartile for ethnic diversity on executive teams were similarly 39% more likely to outperform (McKinsey, 2023).
49. Companies in the top quartile for board-gender diversity are 27% more likely to outperform financially than those in the bottom quartile — a statistically significant finding for the first time (McKinsey, 2023).
50. Companies with above-average diversity in management teams reported 19% higher innovation revenue, according to Boston Consulting Group research.
51. Deloitte’s inclusion research linked inclusive cultures to 6× higher employee innovation, 2× higher employee engagement, and significantly better business outcomes.
52. The relationship between diversity and financial outperformance has strengthened consistently across McKinsey’s four major reports, published in 2015, 2018, 2020, and 2023.

Innovation and Inclusion

53. Businesses with higher levels of inclusion report up to 19% higher innovation revenues, according to Deloitte research cited in Diversio’s 2024 UK DEI analysis.
54. Closing gender gaps in labour force participation and financial inclusion for underserved populations is estimated to have the potential to boost global GDP by $12 trillion (McKinsey, 2024 estimate).
55. Only 4% of firms globally meet all critical criteria for a mature DEI strategy — covering data-driven insights, leadership engagement, sustainable practices, and cultural alignment (PwC global survey, 2024).

DEI Strategy and Investment

Despite the evidence, most UK businesses still have significant ground to cover when it comes to embedding diversity and inclusion into core strategy.

56. 57% of UK businesses consider equality, diversity, and inclusion a strategic priority in recruitment, based on a 2023 survey of over 400 UK organisations.
57. Yet 59% of UK employees believe their companies still have considerable work to do in advancing DEI policies (Diversio, 2024).
58. 59% of UK consumers agree that DEI initiatives are increasingly necessary, while 33% believe brand efforts in this area have declined over the past year (Mintel, 2025).
59. 76% of Gen Z workers say they are ready to call out discrimination in the workplace, increasing reputational risk for businesses that underdeliver on measurable DEI commitments (Mintel, 2025).
60. Gender pay gap reporting has been a legal requirement for UK employers with 250 or more employees since April 2017.
61. Ethnicity pay gap reporting is currently voluntary in the UK. The government has committed to introducing mandatory disability pay gap reporting as part of the Employment Rights Bill 2024–25.
62. In 2024–25, only 50% of working-age adults with disabilities were in paid employment, compared to 81% of non-disabled peers — a gap of around 30 percentage points (Diversity and Inclusion Speakers, 2025).
63. 19% of FTSE 100 directorships were held by minority ethnic directors in 2024, rising to 20% by December 2025.

Full Statistics Reference Table

The table below brings all 60+ statistics together in one place for easy reference. Each figure includes the source and year.

Summary and Key Takeaways

The data tells a complicated story. On one hand, progress is real. Women now hold more than 42% of FTSE 100 directorships. A record 98 of 100 FTSE 100 companies have at least one ethnic minority director on their board. The gender pay gap for full-time employees has declined over the long term.

On the other hand, the pace of change is slow, and the gaps that remain are large. Nearly 13% of all wages still go further for men than for women on average. The disability employment gap has barely moved since 2020. Black representation in FTSE 100 senior management actually declined slightly between 2024 and 2025. And most businesses still have no mature DEI strategy in place.

Three things stand out across all the data:

1. Diverse leadership pays off. McKinsey’s research series on diversity and inclusion shows consistent and growing links between diverse executive teams and financial outperformance. This is not a soft or anecdotal claim — it is backed by data from over 1,000 companies across 23 countries.
2. Board-level gains have not reached the pipeline. Whether it is gender, ethnicity, or disability, representation at the top tends to outpace representation in the middle layers of organisations where future leaders are built.
3. Regulation is pushing harder. Mandatory gender pay gap reporting came in for large employers in 2017. The UK government has committed to mandatory disability pay gap reporting. Ethnicity pay gap reporting is expected to follow in the coming years. Businesses that get ahead of these requirements will be better positioned than those that wait.

If you are a business owner, HR leader, or investor in the UK, these statistics offer a clear signal: diversity and inclusion are not optional extras. They are measurable inputs to business performance, talent retention, and long-term resilience. If you are also thinking about how your business presents itself online, Weblance builds affordable websites for small UK businesses — a good starting point for any growing company.

Sources: ONS (Office for National Statistics); Parker Review 2026; FTSE Women Leaders Review 2025; Cranfield University Female FTSE Board Report 2025; House of Commons Library; Department for Business and Trade Small Business Survey 2024; DWP Employment of Disabled People 2024–2025; TUC Disability Pay and Employment Gaps Report 2024; McKinsey & Company (Diversity Matters Even More, 2023); Deloitte Inclusion Study; Boston Consulting Group; PwC Global DEI Survey 2024; Diversio UK DEI Report 2024; Mintel UK Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Report 2025.