GAIN Statement on Government’s Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy

GAIN (Group for Autism, Insurance, Investment and Neurodiversity) was excited to see that the Government’s new Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy recognises the essential role of skills in building the global position of the UK’s finance sector.

Congratulations to our friends at the Financial Services Skills Commission and their partners for their part in developing the strategy, and for the role they’ll play in taking it forward.

As a build on the strategy, I’d simply add that diversity and inclusion deserves more than the brief mention it gets in a text box. Diversity of thought, diversity of skills and diversity of workforce is critical to achieving the strategy’s aims.

As many as 1 in 5 of the UK population are neurodivergent, but we have distressingly low labour market participation among ND people, even compared to other disability groups[1].  And too many of the ND people who are in work are not maximising their potential because of the challenges they face. As a nation we are overlooking masses of talent that our economy cannot possibly afford to waste.

Neurodivergent people have skills of all kinds, but the particular strengths and preferences of many closely match the areas where financial services has its biggest shortages: IT architects, software engineers, data analysts and data scientists. There’s emerging evidence to that ND colleagues are leading the adoption of AI in other sectors. 

The UK financial services industry needs ND people, and it needs to attract them from education, from other jobs and industries and from worklessness.  Fortunately, the industry has a competitive advantage in attracting and looking after diverse talent, through an extensive infrastructure of practical initiatives, including the asset management industry’s acclaimed Diversity Project, the Women in Finance Charter, the City Corporation’s Belonging initiatives and expert ecosystems like the one GAIN has built around neurodiversity.

We have 46 corporate members across insurance and investment, covering over 90,000 employees, plus 2,000 individual members and a panel of dozens of expert service providers who offer specific support around ND recruitment, office design, mentoring and a host of other areas. We have a growing evidence base of what works in attracting and keeping ND talent and a ‘cluster’ of industry experience that is spreading and accelerating best practice.

Our inclusion capabilities as a sector should be in our global shop window and integral to our work to outperform the world through skills.

GAIN is anxious to help.

From Francis MeGee, Executive Chair on behalf of GAIN

[1] 3 in 10 working age autistic people in employment, compared to 5 in 10 for all disable groups and 98 in 10 for non-disabled people. (Buckland Review 2024, referencing Labour Force Survey)