Openwork to bolster female adviser numbers

The number of women has grown from 22% across the network in 2014 to around 30% at the end of 2018 with more than 1,188 women working for the organisation.

Industry estimates show that just 11% of advisers across the UK are women.

30% of Openwork's executive management team are women and over the next 12 months the company has committed to further increasing female representation.

The Openwork Academy provides learning and qualification support as well as mentoring to help people from a range of backgrounds build a career in financial advice. Over the last two intakes, just under 40% of Academy candidates have been women.

Openwork has also reviewed recruitment and internal promotion practices, joined the Insuring Women's Futures programme, and launched a new maternity policy.

Mark Duckworth, chief executive of Openwork, said: “International Women’s Day is an opportunity for us to review progress so far and commit to maintain the drive to further enhance female representation across the business.

“The financial services industry needs to do more to promote gender equality. Over the next few years Openwork will strive to increase the numbers of female advisers across our network, with financial advice offering excellent career prospects. I am proud of what Openwork has achieved for female diversity but there is much more that we will be doing over the next few months and years.”