Our Knowledge Centre provides a hub for information and insights surrounding the issue of race equity in business, all in one place.
The 2026 Parker Review shows continued progress in overall ethnic minority representation across senior British business leadership (FTSE 100 and 250). Yet beneath this progress sits a persistent and widening gap: black leadership remains significantly underrepresented at both board and senior management levels.
Summary
The 2026 Parker Review shows continued progress in overall ethnic minority representation across senior British business leadership (FTSE 100 and 250). Yet beneath this progress sits a persistent and widening gap: black leadership remains significantly underrepresented at both board and senior management levels.
Similarly to the 2025 review, we need to see more granular reporting that separates out black representation, targeted development and succession planning for black talent, and explicit attention to this gap in board evaluation and search processes. Only by doing so can UK businesses ensure that black professionals progress at rates comparable to both white and other non‑black minority peers, rather than remaining persistently under‑represented in the country’s most powerful corporate roles.
BTC Opinion
Previous research has shown that disadvantaged young people are less likely to work in professional occupations than their advantaged peers, even when they have achieved the same level of education. Yet until now little has been known about the reasons for this - are they applying for professional entry-level roles and not being hired, or are they not applying in the first place? Using unique recruitment data from 17 large employers' entry programmes, this research answers this question for the first time.
Summary
This paper finds that applicants from lower socio-economic and ethnic minority groups are well represented among the applicant pool, but disproportionately do not receive job offers, even when considering similar applicants. Black-white inequalities arise at the online screening and testing stage, while Asian-white and socio-economic background inequalities occur at both the online and face to face stages of recruitment. Inequalities have increased over time as competition for places has increased. While much of the gap can be explained by prior attainment, there are still large socio-economic gaps in offer rates within university groups. Women are typically underrepresented in the applicant pool across entry routes but are more likely to achieve a job offer than otherwise similar men, among those who do apply. Crucially, ethnic minority graduates from a low socio-economic background are 45% less likely to be offered entry-level professional roles compared to more advantaged White applicants.
BTC Opinion
The UK tech industry is one of the fastest-growing sectors, contributing significantly to the economy and driving innovation across industries. Nearly all organisations now rely on digital roles to support operations, from data analysis and cybersecurity to AI development and software engineering, highlighting the extensive influence of technology across every sector. However, despite its dynamism, the tech industry continues to grapple with persistent challenges related to diversity, inclusion, and skills gaps. Addressing these issues is essential for fostering sustainable growth, enhancing innovation, and ensuring equitable access to opportunities across the sector.
Summary
While diversity in the UK tech industry has shown modest progress in recent years, substantial gaps remain. Recruitment of more diverse entry-level candidates has improved slowly, but beyond early-career roles, this momentum diminishes at mid-career and leadership levels, perpetuating a persistent “leaky pipeline.” Structural and cultural barriers result in poor retention and promotion of under-represented people. A national study examining why people in tech voluntarily left their jobs found that underrepresented minorities were twice as likely to leave their role because of unfair treatment rather than for a better job.
BTC Opinion
As the UK tech industry grows, many consider this new sector to offer a wealth of opportunity for job seekers to upskill or redirect their career paths. However, systemic barriers to black talent already exist , which can already be seen with a paucity of black representation at senior levels within the tech industry. Efforts to increase diversity need consistent implementation and strategic approaches to embed best practice within a company. As AI and other tech solutions become further embedded within everyday life, recruitment systems, policing measures and security clearances, it is vital that the creators, owners and designers of these new technologies represent the diverse society that will be the beneficiaries of these systems.
Bain research commissioned by the BTC examining Black underrepresentation in the financial and professional services in the UK.
Summary
Finance and professional services roles are among the highest-paid and most influential jobs in the UK, yet analysis by the Black Talent Charter (BTC), produced with support from Bain & Company, reveals these sectors to have among the lowest proportions of Black representation in industries across the UK economy.
BTC Opinion
This research is a stark warning that the commitments made in 2020 are yet to translate into systemic change. In fact, the data shows that we're actually moving backwards, with business failing to keep pace with the rate of societal change. Improving pathways is essential but insufficient in isolation.
Research commissioned by the Black Talent Charter in collaboration with Bain & Company, has found that black graduates from UK universities continue to face racial discrimination during job applications within the financial services, professional services, and law. This is despite many organisations committing to challenging racism within their organisations in 2020 and working to improve the pipeline to increase their representation of black talent.
Summary
Our research disproves the myth that black talent is hard to find and not eager to apply for roles. In fact, the research has found that, on average, black candidates are twice as likely as any other racial/ethnic group to seek careers within the financial and professional sectors. Despite comprising 8% of the UK university population and 4% at the top 20 universities (compared to 4% of the working age population), black graduates are disproportionately rejected during application processes, being two times less likely than their peers to secure a job role in the targeted industries, and therefore subsequently hold only 2% of roles within the highest remunerated sectors of the UK economy.
BTC Opinion
Laura Durrant, CEO of the Black Talent Charter, said: “Our research suggests that the adage is true; black talent works twice as hard to get half as far. There’s strong representation at universities, studying the right courses, engaging with career opportunities, and applying in high numbers compared to peers, and yet we are still seeing black graduates falling away through the process. Organisations must take a renewed look at the barriers that continue to exist in the recruitment process. But this will also require a change in mindsets regarding how potential is assessed, rather than attributing the issue to the talent not being available. There is clearly an opportunity here to diversify graduate pipelines with talented individuals of black heritage.”
The value of black music especially in the UK has never been thoroughly analysed by the music industry. That’s important because the UK has been and still is at the heart of the invention and re-invention of black-led genres. By foregrounding commercial opportunities ahead of cultural narratives, this new research offers insights into the impact of recorded black music on the industry’s bottom line.
By
UK Music
Summary
This instructive research takes a grounded and thorough review of the music industry with respect to its commercial relationships with black artists and their music. The paper calls for better funding, investment and nurture for black music creators and their black music scene.
BTC Opinion
Over 90% of U.S. employers rely on hiring algorithms to screen job applicants. Many different employers use algorithms from the same few vendors. Stanford University researchers have conducted the largest empirical study of algorithmic hiring with data for 3.4 million real job applicants submitting 4 million applications to 156 employers across 11 market sectors. Every application was assessed by algorithms from a single vendor to test whether this algorithmic monoculture bottlenecks job opportunities. This is the first paper to demonstrate large-scale evidence of racial disparities and homogeneous outcomes in high-stakes hiring decisions.
By
Stanford University
Summary
The research undertaken by Stanford University proves that algorithmic monocultures in hiring are having structural shifts to the labour market in the US. Businesses based in the UK that are also engaging algorithmic hiring systems will likewise be vulnerable to creating and sustaining algorithmic monocultures within localised hiring ecosystems.
BTC Opinion
The 2026 Parker Review shows continued progress in overall ethnic minority representation across senior British business leadership (FTSE 100 and 250). Yet beneath this progress sits a persistent and widening gap: black leadership remains significantly underrepresented at both board and senior management levels.
By
The Parker Review Committee
Summary
The 2026 Parker Review shows continued progress in overall ethnic minority representation across senior British business leadership (FTSE 100 and 250). Yet beneath this progress sits a persistent and widening gap: black leadership remains significantly underrepresented at both board and senior management levels.
Similarly to the 2025 review, we need to see more granular reporting that separates out black representation, targeted development and succession planning for black talent, and explicit attention to this gap in board evaluation and search processes. Only by doing so can UK businesses ensure that black professionals progress at rates comparable to both white and other non‑black minority peers, rather than remaining persistently under‑represented in the country’s most powerful corporate roles.
BTC Opinion
The Fairness Foundation's Wealth Gap Risk Register documents 41 negative impacts of wealth inequality in the UK (alongside 29 policy responses), and suggests that these existing impacts will worsen in the future as the wealth gap continues to increase, unless action is taken to mitigate them.
Britain is a wealthy country, but its wealth is increasingly concentrated in few hands. While wealth inequality has remained high but fairly stable in relative terms over recent decades (with the richest 10% owning about 60% of the UK’s wealth), substantial rises in the value of assets led to a 50% increase in the size of the absolute wealth gap between the richest and poorest households between 2011 and 2019. As a result, wealth – or its absence – has a bigger impact on people’s lives than ever before, from their housing to their health. The fact that much wealth is unearned raises serious questions of fairness, but the size of the wealth gap also has demonstrably negative impacts on our economy, society, democracy and environment.
By
Fairness Foundation
Summary
BTC Opinion
The 2025 Parker Review update, “Improving the Ethnic Diversity of UK Business”, examines how far major UK companies have progressed on ethnic minority representation on boards and in senior management, ten years after the Review began.
By
The Parker Review Committee
Summary
The 2025 Parker Review update, “Improving the Ethnic Diversity of UK Business”, examines how far major UK companies have progressed on ethnic minority representation on boards and in senior management, ten years after the Review began. There has been significant progress made in the FTSE 250 over the last year, with 204 of the 236 companies which reported having at least one ethnic director compared to 175 last year — a rise of 17%. This represents 82% of all FTSE 250 companies. The level of ethnic diversity in the Boards of FTSE 100 companies remains higher than those in the FTSE 250 with 95 of the FTSE 100 companies having at least one ethnic minority director as at December 2024.
BTC Opinion
Previous research has shown that disadvantaged young people are less likely to work in professional occupations than their advantaged peers, even when they have achieved the same level of education. Yet until now little has been known about the reasons for this - are they applying for professional entry-level roles and not being hired, or are they not applying in the first place? Using unique recruitment data from 17 large employers' entry programmes, this research answers this question for the first time.
By
UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities
Summary
This paper finds that applicants from lower socio-economic and ethnic minority groups are well represented among the applicant pool, but disproportionately do not receive job offers, even when considering similar applicants. Black-white inequalities arise at the online screening and testing stage, while Asian-white and socio-economic background inequalities occur at both the online and face to face stages of recruitment. Inequalities have increased over time as competition for places has increased. While much of the gap can be explained by prior attainment, there are still large socio-economic gaps in offer rates within university groups. Women are typically underrepresented in the applicant pool across entry routes but are more likely to achieve a job offer than otherwise similar men, among those who do apply. Crucially, ethnic minority graduates from a low socio-economic background are 45% less likely to be offered entry-level professional roles compared to more advantaged White applicants.
BTC Opinion
The UCL Sarah Parker Remond Centre for the Study of Racism and Racialisation explores the impact of racism - scientific, metaphysical and cultural. Their podcasts highlight important research and conversations on racism and racialisation, with contributions from academics, activists and cultural practitioners.