Summary
The Final Hampton-Alexander Review regarding women on boards has been published. This business-led independent Review has achieved significant progress - women now make up around 40%, in aggregate, of the non-executive directors on FTSE 350 boards. There is, however, a continuing challenge in the proportion of senior women executives on boards and on executive committees as well as the number of women with ethnic minority backgrounds.
This briefing looks at the key findings from the final review, sets out Sir Philip Hampton’s recommendations for the future and reminds companies of some of the views from key stakeholder groups.
Background
The 2016 Hampton-Alexander Review recommended that:
Number of women on
FTSE 350 boards has risen from 682 to 1026 in 5 years, final Hampton-Alexander Review report reveals
FTSE 100, 250 and 350 all reached target of women making up 33% of boards by the end of 2020, highlighting the success of the government’s voluntary, business-led approach
culture change at the top paving the way for greater gender parity across business with women’s representation in wider senior leadership also rising
More than a third (34.3%) of
FTSE 350 board positions are now held by women, with the number of women on boards increasing by 50% over the last 5 years, data released today (Wednesday 24 February) shows, representing a dramatic shift in representation at the very highest levels of British business.
Britain s biggest domestic lender reported its pretax profits were well down on £4.4billion the previous year, after pandemic lockdowns shrank household spending.
Liontrust and AJ Bell highlighted for all-male executive committees in final Hampton-Alexander Review
Almost one third of FTSE 100 companies have not met the 33% target of women on boards set out in the Hampton-Alexander Review, while the number of females in CEO and financial director positions remains “stubbornly low”.
Concluding the five-year review, Sir Philip Hampton said there has been “enormous progress” with the number of women on FTSE boards increasing by 50% over the past five years, there are still “a few serious laggards” where diversity is limited.
“There is,” he wrote, “a continuing challenge in the proportion of senior women executives on boards, since they represent only 14% of the executive directors in the FTSE 100, for example. The proportion of women executives on executive committees is also relatively low, around a quarter, despite progress in recent years.”