Case Study:
Progress Together

“Socio-economic background remains the single strongest predictor of who reaches senior leadership in UK financial services”*

*According to Progress Together’s new Data Report ‘Performance, not Privilege’, launched in collaboration with the Bridge Group on 1 October 2025.

Alderman Vincent Keaveny CBE recently wrote:

“When I served as Lord Mayor of London, I often heard the City described as a meritocracy. Yet, behind the polished façades and success stories, I saw the hidden barriers that still shape who truly gets ahead. That experience cemented my belief that opportunity in financial services must be open to all – not just those who look, sound, or network in a certain way.”

That conviction is now backed by hard data.

The Bridge Group is proud to be the data partner for Progress Together, the not-for-profit membership body that was launched in 2022 to ensure equal access to senior level roles for everyone in the UK’s financial services sector, including those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

It is the deep analysis of members’ data undertaken by the Bridge Group that is at the heart of informing progress. In 2025, the Bridge Group analysed the largest-ever dataset of its kind, spanning over 210,000 employees across 40 firms. The research revealed entrenched barriers, with employees from lower socio-economic backgrounds taking 16% longer to progress into senior roles than peers from privileged backgrounds. Senior leadership also continues to be dominated by privileged backgrounds, with diverse talent pipelines stalling before the top.

Looking back, Sophie Hulm, Chief Executive of Progress Together, describes how the membership body started, following the launch of the Bridge Group’s City of London Corporation-commissioned report, and the creation of the Government-commissioned Socio-Economic Diversity Taskforce. She says:

“Progress Together was founded on the evidence presented by the Bridge Group. Their report was instrumental in the Government commissioning the taskforce. Over 100 key figures in the sector engaged as a direct result of the clear evidence of skills being wasted, productivity impacted within the organisations, the sector, and the broader economy in the report. It has opened so many doors.”

Currently over two thirds of Progress Together members routinely submit data as a commitment to data-informed decision-making, with regular workshops and C-Suite roundtables to discuss the findings.

The latest dataset shows that in more than half of firms, no senior leaders come from both an ethnic minority and a lower or intermediate socio-economic background. Men from higher socio-economic backgrounds are 3.4x more likely to reach senior roles than women from lower socio-economic backgrounds. And London, the least socio-economically diverse region, accounts for more than half of senior jobs, blocking talent from other regions.

However, for Progress Together members who have been reporting data for the last three years, some progress is being made, as the October roundtable at the Bank of England revealed areas to focus on. These include the need for visible leadership, a focus on progression and not just recruitment, and a serious look at how AI is creating a two-tiered workforce.

One participant said:

“Socio-economic diversity is not about compliance. It is about competitiveness. Performance, not privilege, must be the organising principle of our sector.”

Progress Together members represent over a third of the UK financial services workforce, and that scale gives them not only unprecedented reach, but more importantly, real collective power to influence systemic change.

Alderman Vincent Keaveny CBE elaborates:

“If we want to keep the UK at the forefront of global finance, talent and competitiveness must go hand in hand. Unlocking talent from every background isn’t just good for society – it’s good for business.”

November 2025