The insurance and long-term savings sector is making family-friendly initiatives a defining feature of its diversity, equity and inclusion journey, as new data reveals significant growth in surrogacy and IVF support.
A progress update on the ABI’s award-winning DEI Blueprint shows that 66% of firms now offer surrogacy support and 69% offer IVF support – up 13 and 19 percentage points, respectively, from 2022.1 This momentum reflects the industry’s recognition that supporting different paths to parenthood is central to building an inclusive workforce where everyone feels supported.
New figures also show that 46% of firms now offer returnship programmes specifically designed to help people back to work after parental or extended leave, a rise of 13 percentage points from 2022. Meanwhile, 100% of ABI members continue to offer formal flexible working options, ensuring that employees can balance professional responsibilities with family and caring commitments.
This progress builds upon the Blueprint’s guiding principle of supporting employees through significant life events such as miscarriage and caring responsibilities.
Other key findings from the latest update include:
- New data – Firms are increasingly focused on additional types of representation as 59% of ABI members now collect data on socio-economic background, up 8 percentage points from 2023 (51%). The figures also show that 61% of firms capture data on neurodiversity within their organisations, an increase of 14-percentage points compared to 2022 (47%).
- Inclusive cultures – 89% of ABI members have a ‘speak-up’ policy to encourage colleagues to raise concerns about harassment or discrimination and 76% have a formal ‘zero tolerance’ policy for this type of misconduct.
- Representation – The proportion of women and people of ethnic minority backgrounds working at director level has grown from 31% to 36% and 7% to 9% in 2024, respectively, compared to 2023. Despite this progress, more action is needed to increase ethnic minority representation at board level, which has fallen from 11% in 2023 to 8% in 2024.
- Development schemes – Insurers and long-term savings providers continue to engage with the incoming workforce, with firms welcoming 2,622 young people onto structured work experience programs in 2024, up from just 288 in 2022.
The insurance and long-term savings industry touches millions of lives across the UK, making it vital that our workforce reflects the diverse communities we serve. From better support for working parents to stronger engagement with the incoming workforce, this report shows encouraging progress, and we look forward to building on this further.
We are already working closely with members and stakeholders to build on the foundations of our DEI Blueprint and drive lasting change across the industry in 2026 and beyond. Our aim may be bold, but it still stands; we remain committed to becoming the most diverse, equitable and inclusive sector of the UK economy.
Liisa Antola
Manager of DEI and Customer Outcomes at the ABI
Next steps
The Blueprint update also sets out objectives for 2026 and beyond. These include continuing to collect and analyse DEI data, strengthening inclusive workplace cultures, and ensuring diversity at all levels across the sector.
With the government’s focus on closing the disability employment gap, the ABI is also exploring how the industry can better support disabled people in the workforce.
Footnotes
- 1 - First launched in 2022, the Blueprint includes guidance and good practice to help firms attract, grow and advance a diverse, equitable and inclusive workforce. It also sets yearly objectives against these themes to help the ABI and its members measure industry progress. The update report covers objectives for 2024-2025.
- The ABI has continued to deliver its Allyship Awareness training to member firms and stakeholders across the UK. The training sessions teach colleagues at all seniority levels the importance of calling out discrimination and harassment in the workplace, which supports a safer and more inclusive environment for all. To highlight the importance of allyship in cultivating an inclusive workplace culture, the ABI has begun collecting data on its members’ relevant policies.
- For more information, please contact: press.office@abi.org.uk.
About us
The ABI is the definitive voice of the UK’s world-leading insurance and long-term savings industry, which is the largest sector in Europe and the third largest in the world.
We represent more than 300 firms within our membership including most household names and specialist providers, providing peace of mind to customers across the UK.
Our sector is productive, inclusive and essential to the UK economy and together, we are driving change to protect and build a thriving society.