Getting Started Guide
1. Key dates of the Review
2. How is the Gender Data for Leadership and Boards collected?
2.1 Leadership Gender Data
The Data submission process takes place through a secure online Portal which can be accessed via the Review’s website. The Portal is designed to gather company specific Leadership Gender Data regarding the number of men and women on both the Executive Committee and Direct Reports to the Executive Committee at a snap-shot reporting date of 31st October each year.
This year’s Leadership Gender Data will need to be compiled as at 31 October 2024.
Employee Turnover Data
The online Portal also collects information on Employee Turnover by comparing the gender representation of a company from one year to the next. In addition to the Leadership Gender Data required, the number of leavers and the number of joiners by gender during the prior 12 month period are required to calculate the turnover.
This year’s Employee Turnover reporting period will be the 12 month period prior to 31 October 2024, i.e. 1 November 2023 to 31 October 2024.
2.2 Board Gender Data
You will also be required to submit Board Gender Data on four key Board roles via the online Portal; the Chair of the Board, the Senior Independent Director/or Deputy Chair, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the Chief Finance Officer/Financial Director.
No other data relating to the Board is required in this Portal submission. Any other required data relating to the composition of the Board will be collected by the FTSE Women Leaders Review team from BoardEx, and other publicly and /or statutory sources on 10 January 2025.
Please note: Any Executive Director who is a member of the Board and also a member of the Executive Committee, needs to also be included via the online Portal submission, in the relevant Leadership Gender Data fields. This is likely to include the CEO and the Finance Director only, who most often sit on the Board and on the Executive Committee, but it may also include any other Executive Director that is also a member of the Board.
3. What type of information is collected via the Portal?
There are two types of information collected in this process: 1) the personal contact details of the relevant employee acting as the Registered User for each company, and 2) the gender specific data i.e. the number of men and women that make up the Leadership team and the Board of each company.
The Registered User will be required to submit their personal contact details, such as their name, email address and telephone number. This data will not be published and will remain confidential to the parties of the FTSE Women Leaders Review. Please read our latest Privacy Policy for further details on the use of the data.
The Leadership Gender Data and selected Board Gender Data that is required via the online form is set out below. This data will be published in our report dated February 2025 on an individual company basis, and in the aggregate for the relevant FTSE 350 Index.
4. What data do I need to submit?
Leadership Gender Data
Sections 1, 2 and 3 of the online form collects the gender of members of the Executive Committee and the gender of Direct Reports to the Executive Committee on a snap-shot basis as at 31 October 2024. It also collects Employee Turnover Data i.e. the total number of men and women who have left, and joined in the reporting period. The form will be similar to the below format.
| Section 1 – Leadership Gender Data | ||
| Executive Committee* | Men | Women |
| Executive Committee* Members at the start of the period 1 November 2023 | This will be pre-populated based on last year’s submission | |
| Executive Committee members that left in the year to 31 October 2024 | ||
| Executive Committee members that joined in the year to 31 October 2024 | ||
| Total Number of Executive Committee Members as at 31 October 2024 | ||
| Section 2 – Leadership Gender Data | ||
| Direct Reports to the Executive committee (excluding all administrative & support staff) | Men | Women |
| Direct Reports* at the start of the period 1 November 2023 | This will be pre-populated based on last year’s submission | |
| Direct Reports that left in the year to 31 October 2024 | ||
| Direct Reports that joined in the year to 31 October 2024 | ||
| Total Number of Direct Reports as at 31 October 2024 | ||
Note: When calculating leavers, include all internal moves, which have happened in the year, due to promotion/sideways move/demotions/secondments and all external moves, which have happened in the year due to retirement/ redundancies/ resignation.
When calculating joiners, include all internal moves, which have happened in the year due to promotion/sideways move/demotions/secondments and all external recruitment hires
Key Functional Roles
Section 3 of the form is on a snapshot basis as at 31 October 2024, and requests the gender and name of the holders of key functional roles. The purpose of this data is to provide a better understanding of the gender balance of leaders in functions across the business.
| Section 3 – Leadership Gender Data | Name | Gender |
| 1.Human Resources Director (HRD) or the most senior executive responsible for people and talent management | ||
| 2. Chief Information Officer (CIO) or the most senior executive responsible for data systems and technology | ||
| 3. General Counsel and /or Company Secretary Either: (where the role is a combined responsibility), (a) General Counsel and Company Secretary Or: (where the role has separate responsibilities/job holders) (b) General Counsel (c) Company Secretary |
Board Gender Data
Section 4 of the form is on a snapshot basis as at 31 October 2024, and requests the gender and name of the holders of key Board roles. The purpose of this Board Gender Data is to provide a better understanding of the gender split in the most senior roles on the Board where women are not often strongly represented.
| Section 4 – Board Gender Data | Name | Gender |
| 1. Chair | ||
| 2. Senior Independent Director/Deputy Chair | ||
| 3. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) | ||
| 4. Chief Financial Officer or Financial Director |
Note: Any other required data relating to the composition of the Board will be collected by the FTSE Women Leaders Review team from BoardEx, and/or publicly available sources on 10 January 2025.
4.1 What is your definition of Executive Committee?
We anticipate most companies will have an Executive Committee or similarly named organisational structure. For those companies that do not, it should be the nearest equivalent and senior-most executive or managerial governing body that sits below the board, which will often be chaired by the CEO or in the absence of this, the collective of employees who directly report to the CEO. This should exclude all administrative and support staff. From data gathered last year the average size of a FTSE 100 Executive Committee is 11 members. These are typically slightly smaller in FTSE 250 companies.
4.2 What is your definition of Direct Reports to the Executive Committee?
Direct Reports are employees in a direct reporting line to members of the Executive Committee or the nearest equivalent. This should exclude administrative and support staff. From data gathered last year, the average size of a FTSE 100 Direct Report population is 55 employees. These are typically slightly smaller in FTSE 250 companies.
4.3 What if the role of Chief Information Officer, General Counsel and / or Company Secretary doesn’t exist in the organisation or is outsourced to a third party company?
If there is no equivalent role in the organisation for one or all of these roles, then please select ‘No such role’ from the selection criteria on the form. If you are unsure please contact info@ftsewomenleaders.com
4.4 What if the role of Chair, Senior Independent Director, Chief Executive Officer or Chief Financial Officer / Finance Director doesn’t exist in the organisation?
If there is no equivalent role in the organisation for one or all of these roles, then there will be an option in the form to select ‘No such role’. If you are unsure please contact info@ftsewomenleaders.com
4.5 Members of our Executive Committee and/or their Direct Reports are based overseas, do I include them in our data submission?
Yes; we are capturing the management structure irrespective of where individuals are based. Any Executive Committee member based overseas are included, as are any of their Direct Reports (whilst ignoring any administrative or support staff).
4.6 Members of our Executive Committee and/or their Direct Reports are contractors or temporary employees, do I include them in our data submission?
No, you should only include permanent employees in your data submission.
4.7 Members of our Executive Committee and/or their Direct Reports are on parental leave or any other kind of leave, do I include them in our data submission?
Yes, you should include the gender and headcount of a permanent colleague who is on leave. However you should not include the gender and headcount of a colleague who is the temporary cover.
4.8 Members of our Executive Committee and/or their Direct Reports identify as non-binary, prefer not to disclose their gender, or identity in a different way. How do we report this?
The definition of gender used in the data collection and reporting processes for the FTSE Women Leaders Review aligns with that of UK Law and the Equality Act 2010 with a person’s sex being determined at birth, or where, as appropriate, a trans person has obtained a Gender Recognition Certificate. We welcome companies to use man or woman as the colleague identifies, however, we do not have a data option for genders beyond male and female. However, we will ask whether your organisation collects genders beyond male and female, as your insights will be very valuable as we navigate these important distinctions.
5. Is there any change to the data collected from last year?
No, there is no change to the data collected from 2023. All the data required this year is the same as the collection period in November 2023.
6. My company is new in the FTSE 350 this year. How do I submit my data?
For new entrants to the FTSE 350 Index in 2024 we will not have your historic data pre populated. Therefore we ask that you submit all Leadership Data on a ‘snap-shot’ basis as at 31 October 2024. No turnover data will be collected.
This means you should input all your data as ‘Executive Committee members that joined in the year to 31 October 2024’ and ‘Direct Reports that joined in the year to 31 October 2024’ only, so that the portal captures the Total Numbers correctly. You should not enter any data into the data fields for ‘Executive Committee members that left in the year to 31 October 2024’ or ‘Direct Reports that left in the year to 31 October 2024’.
It is important that the Total Numbers are correct as these figures are reported on an individual company basis, as per Appendix B and C in the February 2024 report.
The following year we will ask for turnover data.
7. If my company is structured as an Investment Trust, how should I respond?
Investment Trusts that do not have any employees and/or have substantially outsourced the management of the company to third parties, are not required to submit data via the Portal. Further, Investment Trusts which are recorded as such in Appendix D of the February 2024 FTSE Women Leaders Review Report, are not required to re-confirm their company status if this remains unchanged from 2021.
All new entrants to the FTSE 350 Index are required to either confirm their legal status as an Investment Trust, or submit their Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data in 2024. To confirm your company’s status as an Investment Trust please contact info@ftsewomenleaders.com
8. How do I get started?
The Portal will be open from 1 October 2024 for companies which are new to the FTSE 350 Index and need to register for the first time, or any company that is already registered but needs to change their registered user details. It is also open for all companies wishing to log in and browse data from prior years or view this year’s data fields.
The Portal will be open for all FTSE 350 companies to submit their 2024 Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data from
Friday 1 November 2024
The Portal will close on Friday 29 November 2024
To prepare for the Portal opening, you can familiarise yourself with the Leadership Gender Data that will be required as outlined in Questions 3 & 4 above, or view the required data fields via the Log In process on the Portal.
9. How do I use the Portal?
From 1 October 2024 you can follow the link to the Portal here which will take you to the portal Welcome page. Please note that links within this section will not work before the 1 October 2024.
Select FTSE 350 Companies Portal as outlined below:
Once you have selected the FTSE 350 Portal you will be presented with the following screen, including the step-by-step video.
Login
Choose the Log In box if your company registered in 2023, or in previous years and the Registered User is unchanged. The Registered User will need the Username and Password they provided at the point of registration. Once successfully logged in, the user may navigate to the relevant company record, historical Leadership Gender Data submissions, and the 2024 submission form. You can also reset your password here.
Please note: the password reset function should only be used if the same user is submitting the Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data in 2024 as in prior years. If a new user is submitting Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data in 2024, please refer to guidance below under ‘Change User’.
Please note: once you submit a password reset request, you should receive an email to reset your password in the next 10 minutes. If you do not receive this, please contact info@ftsewomenleaders.com
Change User
Choose the Change User box if your company registered in 2022 or in previous years, but you would like to change the Username that is registered to access the company’s account. This may be because the current registered user is no longer working for the company, or responsibilities have changed.
If you are unsure of the registered user, please contact info@ftsewomenleaders.com
Register
Choose the Register box if your company is a new entrant to the FTSE 350 (i.e. entered the FTSE 350 after October 2022) and submitting their Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data for the first time. The registration process is a two-stage process as follows:
Stage 1 Register your Company
The first stage is registration where the employee responsible for submitting their company’s Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data is required to register their company and their own contact details on the Portal. To do this click the Register box on the Portal welcome page as shown above.
Stage 2 Submitting your Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data
The second stage is the actual Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data submission. You will be required to Log In to the Portal as per above instructions and submit your company Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data. Details on what data is required to be submitted can be found in Questions 3 & 4.
10. When will the Portal be open for administrative changes and browsing?
The Portal will open from 1 October 2024 for a number of administrative tasks such as registering your company for the first time, changing the registered Username where a company is already registered, re-setting of passwords, and to browse prior year Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data or the 2024 submission form.
11. When will I be able to submit Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data for this year?
The link to the Portal will be live for submissions on Friday 1 November 2024.
12. What is the deadline for submitting Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data?
The deadline for submissions is Friday 29 November 2024.
13. Who should complete the registration process and submit the Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data?
The person who registers and submits the Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data should be the same person. They should also be an employee of the company, appropriately authorised to submit this data on behalf of the company and someone the FTSE Women Leaders team can contact in the event of any queries.
14. How long will it take to complete the online submission?
Providing you have collected all of the Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data required in advance, the online submission process is straight-forward and should take no more than half an hour to complete.
15. What will happen to the Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data once it has been submitted?
You will receive an email notification confirming your company Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data has successfully been submitted. The email will include a link to log back into the online facility to see the information you submitted, but you won’t be able to edit it.
16. If I notice a mistake in the Leadership or Board Gender Data I have submitted will I be able to change it?
The online facility will be live from Friday 1 November – Friday 29 November 2024 which we hope is enough time to check the Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data is accurate before you submit it. If a change is required, the registered user will need to confirm this in writing to us at info@ftsewomenleaders.com
You will then be sent a link allowing amendments to your submission for up to 48 hours after receiving the link.
Previous years submissions cannot be amended.
17. How can I check if my company submitted Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data last year?
The vast majority of FTSE 350 companies submitted their Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data in November 2023. You can check by logging onto the Portal and clicking on the 2023 tab on your company’s record, once it opens for limited activities on 1 October 2024. If you are unable to do so, please contact us at info@ftsewomenleaders.com
18. How will the Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data be used by the FTSE Women Leaders Review team?
The FTSE Women Leaders Review gathers data from FTSE 350 companies and the 50 Largest UK private companies in scope on over 26,000 roles on boards and in leadership roles (defined as the Executive Committee and their Direct Reports). The Review publishes progress on women on Boards and women in Leadership, on both an individual company and an aggregate basis, in the annual FTSE Women Leaders report.
19. Who will have access to the Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data?
The Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data submitted will be accessed by a limited number of parties involved in analysing the gender performance data for the FTSE Women Leaders Review and compiling the report. This includes the FTSE Women Leaders Steering Group and team, the Equalities Hub, the Department of Business and Trade and partners supporting the FTSE Women Leaders Review website and publication of reports.
20. What are the implications of GDPR with regards to asking for permission to use data?
Data Protection and data confidentiality is a priority for the Government and the FTSE Women Leaders Review team. Please read our latest Privacy Policy.
21. How will the Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data collected be published in the report?
The Leadership Gender Data, which is collected on a ‘snap-shot’ basis as at 31 October 2024, may be published by the FTSE Women Leaders Review on an individual company basis and in the aggregate.
The Employee Turnover Data may be published by the FTSE Women Leaders Review on an individual company basis and in the aggregate.
The Key Functional Role Data, which is collected on a ‘snap-shot’ basis as at 31 October 2024, may be published by the FTSE Women Leaders Review on an individual company basis and in the aggregate. Role holders’ names are captured for completeness and validation purposes only, and will not be published.
The Board Gender Data which is collected on a ‘snap-shot’ basis as at 31 October 2024, may be published by the FTSE Women Leaders Review on an individual company basis and in the aggregate.
22. Why do you need to collect this Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data?
To continue to build on the progress made in recent years we are requesting FTSE 350 companies to provide their Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data on the representation of women in their leadership layers, specifically the Executive Committee (or nearest equivalent top team) and the Direct Reports to the Executive Committee (excluding all administrative and support staff), as well as the turnover in these two populations in the previous 12 months.
23. Will Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data my company submitted in previous years be used in the 2024 FTSE Women Leaders report or future reports?
For completeness of reporting and tracking progress over time, we may publish Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data submitted in previous years in this year’s report and future reports.
24. Why isn’t this information already available elsewhere?
The composition of FTSE Boards is publicly available information and also reported by BoardEx. and elsewhere. This is not the case for the composition of FTSE 350 Executive Committees or Direct Reports to the Executive Committee. To provide accurate year-on-year reporting on progress, all FTSE 350 companies are requested to submit their Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data at the same time via the portal on the FTSE Women Leaders website.
25. What happens if my company doesn’t submit its Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data?
We anticipate all FTSE 350 companies will want to participate, as has been the case in previous years, as the Review’s annual report is widely used and distributed to business communities, including investors, customers, other stakeholders and regulatory bodies. If any company chooses not to participate, the names of these companies will be published as ‘chose not to respond’ as part of the reporting process. The company’s Board data may still be published in the report as this information is made available publicly.
26. Should my company publish the Leadership Gender Data FTSE Women Leaders require elsewhere?
Yes, we encourage companies to publish details of the number of women on the Executive Committee and the Direct Reports to the Executive Committee in their Annual Report and Accounts and/or on their websites. As the reporting process takes place only annually, information on websites helps the FTSE Women Leaders Review team and other stakeholders to keep updated.
Contact Us
If you have any further questions please contact the FTSE Women Leaders Review team at info@ftsewomenleaders.com
August 2024
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the FTSE Women Leaders Review?
The FTSE Women Leaders Review (the Review) is an independent review body, supported by Government, which builds on the excellent work of its predecessors, the Davies and Hampton-Alexander Reviews to increase the number of women on FTSE 350 & 50 of the UK’s largest private company boards, and also to improve women’s representation in senior leadership positions. Find out more and view previous reports at www.ftsewomenleaders.com.
2. Who Chairs the Review?
This phase of the Review is co-Chaired by Penny James, Senior Independent Director of Hargreaves Lansdown and Nimesh Patel, Chief Executive Officer at Spirax Group plc.
3. Who runs the Review and how does it operate?
The Review is governed by a Steering Group made up of experienced business members, and an Advisory Panel of relevant business organisations that meets periodically.
Key dates of the Review
4. What are the Recommendations for the Review?
The FTSE Women Leaders Review announced Four New Recommendations in February 2022, including higher targets and extending the scope to 50 of the largest private companies. They are as follows:
- The voluntary target for FTSE 350 Boards & for FTSE 350 Leadership teams is increased to a minimum of 40% women’s representation by the end of 2025.
- FTSE 350 companies should have at least one woman in the Chair, Senior Independent Director role on the Board and/or one woman in the Chief Executive Officer or Finance Director role by the end of 2025.
- Key stakeholders should continue to set best-practice guidelines or use alternative mechanisms to encourage any FTSE 350 Board that has not yet achieved the previous 33% target for the end of 2020, to do so.
- The scope of the Review is extended beyond FTSE 350 companies to include the largest 50 private companies in the UK.
5. How did you determine the list of the 50 Largest Private Companies?
The FTSE Women Leaders Review has determined the criteria for the list of the 50 Largest Private Companies to be those companies that have an annual turnover in excess of £1 billion and an employee workforce in excess of 4000 employees. In addition, the company needs to be headquartered in the UK, with neither the company, nor the parent organisation listed on any UK or overseas stock exchange. The company will also make a significant contribution to UK business and the economy and/or have a significant UK consumer profile.
6. Why is the criteria for the in-scope private companies different than for companies under the FTSE?
7. When will the next report be published?
This year’s report will be made public in February 2025.
8. Is this the same as the Gender Pay Gap (GPG) reporting requirements?
No, this is an entirely separate, voluntary request made by the independent FTSE Women Leaders Review, supported by the Department of Business and Trade and the Government Equalities Hub. Together we request FTSE 350 companies and the 50 Largest Private Companies to submit Leadership Gender Data on the gender representation on the Executive Committee and Direct Reports to the Executive Committee.
Mandatory GPG reporting is a legislative requirement that came into force in April 2017 requiring employers with 250 employees or more, to publish a range of Gender Pay Gap information by 30 March for the public sector and 4 April for the private and voluntary sector.
Analysis of FTSE companies’ gender pay gap reports, shows there is a significant gap in the earnings opportunity of men and women, largely as a result of too few women in higher paid executive or leadership roles and too many women occupying lower paid and lower grade roles.
The FTSE Women Leaders Review’s primary purpose is to increase the number of women on FTSE 350 and 50 Largest Private Companies boards and in executive and leadership roles, ensuring equal opportunity for both men and women and as such significantly contributing to closing the gender pay gap.
9. Is this the same as the new FCA Listing Rules reporting requirements?
No, this is an entirely separate, voluntary request made by the independent FTSE Women Leaders Review, supported by the Department of Business and Trade and the Government Equalities Hub. Together we request FTSE 350 companies and the 50 Largest Private Companies to submit Leadership Gender Data on the gender representation on the Executive Committee and Direct Reports to the Executive Committee.
In April 2022, the FCA finalised rules requiring listed companies to report information and disclose against targets on the representation of women and ethnic minorities on their boards and executive management, making it easier for investors to see the diversity of their senior leadership teams. The rules will apply to listed companies for financial accounting periods starting from 1 April 2022.
The FCA’s approach sets positive diversity targets for listed companies. If they cannot meet them, they need to explain why not. This approach allows flexibility for smaller firms or those based overseas. The rules also allow companies to decide how best to collect data from employees to show they are meeting the targets.
The FTSE Women Leaders Review’s primary purpose is the increase in the number of women on FTSE 350 & 50 Largest Private Company boards and in executive and leadership roles, ensuring equal opportunity for both men and women.
Contact Us
If you have any further questions please contact the FTSE Women Leaders Review team at info@ftsewomenleaders.com
