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London’s largest landlords miss minority ethnic board representation target
A target by the G15 group of large London housing associations to increase minority ethnic representation on boards has been missed by a significant margin.
A target by the G15 group of housing associations to increase minority ethnic representation on boards has been missed by a significant margin #UKhousing Minority ethnic representation on housing association members’ boards remains at just over half of the target, at 16.4%.
The target, first set out in April 2020 as part of a nine-point package of measures to address the lack of ethnic diversity among top G15 jobs, aimed to make 30% of landlords’ collective board members from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds by 2025.
The pledge, if achieved, would have more than doubled the proportion it was before (13%).
However, according to the G15, minority ethnic representation on members’ boards dropped as low as 14.1% this January, but has since increased to 16.4%.
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This is despite the proportion increasing in the years following the pledge: 20% after one year, 22% after two, and 23% after three.
The group put the drop partly down to a “number of mergers” having taken place.
According to the report: “This represents a disappointing fall in the proportion of representation since 2022 which had stood at 23%.
“While this is in part due to the impact of mergers and the inclusion of new members who are not predominantly London-based, we must be honest in acknowledging that progress has not been as fast or as sustained as we had hoped.”
It said that although there had been “meaningful progress in strengthening board-level diversity” – most notably by The Hyde Group and Peabody, whose boards are now 25% ethnically diverse, and L&Q at 22.2% – it was “clear that, as a group, our overall progress has fallen short”.
The G15 launched the ethnic diversity pledge in April 2020, with the aim of ensuring its members’ leadership reflected the communities they served. All member housing associations committed to a set of actions to improve the ethnic diversity of organisations, particularly at senior managerial, leadership and board levels.
Elsewhere, minority ethnic representation on members’ committees is 21%.
As it stands, 16.2% of the G15’s workforce identify as Black, African, Caribbean, or Black British – four times the UK workforce average and 3% above the proportion in London’s population.
In July 2020, the group launched the G15 Accelerate programme, an 18-month management and leadership development scheme for Black and minority ethnic managers which aimed to build a pipeline of talented people and help them progress their careers into leadership roles.
Since then, three cohorts have completed the programme, with 117 people successfully achieving a Chartered Management Institute qualification.
Fiona Fletcher-Smith, chief executive of L&Q and a former chair of the G15, said that while progress was made, the report “shows that more still needs to be done”.
“In 2020, the G15 set a target that 30% of our boards would be ethnically diverse by 2025.
“We haven’t yet achieved this, partly due to a number of mergers which have taken place since then.
“However, we remain committed to achieving this, whilst working to ensure that all colleagues can reach their full potential. All of us have a role to play in making our organisations truly representative of the communities we serve.
“The change we have seen across the G15 in the past five years is significant, but now is the time to harness the power of our shared diversity to go further and faster,” she said.
Earlier this month, Inside Housing looked at how social landlords’ pledges for change had progressed over five years in response to Black Lives Matter.
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