Getting Started and FAQs
1. Who is in scope for the Review?
The Review collects data from the FTSE 350 and the 50 largest private companies in the UK. The same recommendations apply to both the FTSE 350 companies and the 50 private companies. The data collected is the same with a few exceptions, which are addressed below in the FAQ’s, and which reflects the differing structures of listed and unlisted companies.
2. Key dates of the Review
3. How is the Gender Data for Leadership and Boards collected?
3.1 Leadership and Board Gender Data
The Data submission process takes place through a survey link which is emailed to each of the Review in-scope companies for completion. The survey is designed to gather company specific Board Director and Leadership Gender Data regarding the number of men and women on both the Boards and Executive Committee and Direct Reports to the Executive Committee at a snap-shot reporting date of 31st October each year.
This year’s Data will need to be compiled as at 31 October 2026.
Employee Turnover Data
The survey 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.
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
This year’s employee turnover reporting period will be the 12 month period prior to 31 October 2026, i.e. 1 November 2025 to 31 October 2026.
All data to be submitted on a snapshot basis as at 31 October 2026.
4. What type of information is collected via the Survey?
The joint survey will collect background information on the in-scope companies, such as sector and type of organization. As it is a joint survey between the Women Business Leaders Review, it will collect gender and ethnicity data respectively. The gender data will include 1) the personal contact details of the relevant employee acting as the Designated Contact 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 Designated Contact 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 Women Business Leaders Review. Please read our latest Privacy Policy for further details on the use of the data.
The Leadership Gender Data and Board Gender Data that is required via the online survey will be published in our report dated February 2027 on an individual company basis, and in the aggregate for the relevant FTSE 350 Index and 50 largest private companies. Note that while individual names of Board and Executive roles and contact details may be collected, these are not published in the report.
5. What data do I need to submit?
Board Gender Data
You will be required to submit Board Gender Data on:
- the number of men and women Executive and Non-Executive Directors on the Board, excluding the Company Secretary
- the four key Board roles; the Chair of the Board, the Senior Independent Director/or Deputy Chair, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the Chief Finance Officer/Financial Director
- The Committee Chairs, where applicable, for the:
- Audit/Finance Committee
- Nomination/Governance Committee
- Remuneration Committee
- Risk Committee
- Sustainability/ESG Committee
Note: Any Executive Director who is a member of the Board and also a member of the Executive Committee, needs to also be included in the 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.
| Board Gender Data | ||
| Board Data | Men | Women |
| Executive Directors (excluding Company Secretary) at the start of the period 1 November 2025 | ||
| Executive Directors (excluding Company Secretary) that left in the year to 31 October 2026 | ||
| Executive Directors (excluding Company Secretary) members that joined in the year to 31 October 2026 | ||
| Total Number of Executive Directors (excluding Company Secretary) members as at 31 October 2026 | ||
| Non-Executive Directors at the start of the period 1 November 2025 | ||
| Non-Executive Directors that left in the year to 31 October 2026 | ||
| Non-Executive Directors that joined in the year to 31 October 2026 | ||
| Total Number of Non-Executive Directors members as at 31 October 2026 | ||
| Total Number of Board Members as at 31 October 2026 | ||
Board Committee Chairs
The Survey collects, on a snapshot basis as at 31 October 2026, the sex and name of the holders of Board Committee Chairs. If there is no such Committee, check the “No such role” box. The purpose of this Board Committee Chair Data is to provide a better understanding of the gender split across the Committee Chairs on the Board.
| Board Committee Chair Gender Data | Name | Gender |
| 1. Audit/Finance Committee Chair | ||
| 2. Nomination/Governance Committee Chair | ||
| 3. Remuneration Committee Chair | ||
| 4. Risk Committee Chair | ||
| 5. Sustainability/ESG Committee Chair |
| The Four Key Roles | ||||
| Please provide the sex and name of the holders of the four key roles below as of 31 October 2026 | Name | Man | Woman | No such role |
| 1. Chair | ||||
| 2. Senior Independent Director | ||||
| 3. Chief Executive Officer | ||||
| 4. Chief Financial Officer | ||||
Key Functional Roles
| 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. Group Counsel and /or Company Secretary Either: (where the role is a combined responsibility), Group Counsel and Company SecretaryOr: (where the role has separate responsibilities/job holders) Group Counsel |
The Survey collects, on a snapshot basis as at 31 October 2026, 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.
Leadership Gender Data
The survey 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 2026. 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 survey will be similar to the below format.
| Leadership Gender Data | ||
| Executive Committee* | Men | Women |
| Executive Committee* Members at the start of the period 1 November 2025 | ||
| Executive Committee members that left in the year to 31 October 2026 | ||
| Executive Committee members that joined in the year to 31 October 2026 | ||
| Total Number of Executive Committee Members as at 31 October 2026 | ||
Executive Committee P&L and non P&L Roles
Please provide the number of men and women on the Executive Committee who are in P&L roles and the number in non-P&L roles. The reference to P&L is to revenue generating roles within the business, where an executive takes direct, accountable ownership of a business unit’s total revenues and expenses to drive profitability (i.e. CEO, General Manager, Commercial Director, Head of Business Unit or Country Manager, etc). A non-P&L role refers to a non-revenue generating role (i.e.HR, internal Legal or Compliance, technology or operational support for the business, etc).
| P&L and non P&L | ||
| Executive Committee* | Men | Women |
| Executive Committee* Members holding P&L roles | ||
| Executive Committee members holding non-P&L roles | ||
*Excluding all administrative and support staff
| 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 2025 | ||
| Direct Reports that left in the year to 31 October 2026 | ||
| Direct Reports that joined in the year to 31 October 2026 | ||
| Total Number of Direct Reports as at 31 October 2026 | ||
5.1 What is your definition of an 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, this 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 in previous years the average size of an Executive Committee is 11 members. These are typically slightly smaller in FTSE 250 companies.
5.2 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. The average size of a private company Direct Report population is 64.
5.3 What if the role of Chief Information Officer, Group 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@womenbusinessleaders.co.uk
5.4 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@womenbusinessleaders.co.uk
5.5 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). Note that this definition is different from the Senior Management definition in the Parker Review.
5.6 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.
5.7 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 sex and headcount of a permanent colleague who is on leave. However you should not include the sex and headcount of a colleague who is the temporary cover.
5.8 Members of our Executive Committee and/or their Direct Reports identify as non-binary, prefer not to disclose their gender, or identify in a different way. How do we report this?
In line with UK law and the Equality Act 2010, the Review collects and reports data based on biological sex as assigned at birth, which is the legal definition of sex. This approach reflects the recent UK Supreme Court ruling, which clarified that holding a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) does not change a person’s legal sex for the purposes of the Equality Act.
6. Is there any change to the data collected from last year?
Yes, we are collecting two new data points:
- We are collecting the sex of the Chair of each of the Board Committees
- We are collecting the sex of the P&L and non-P&L roles in the Executive Committee.
7. If my company is structured as an Investment Trust, how should I respond?
Investment Trusts are required to submit their gender data for their Board of Directors.
All companies in the FTSE 350 Index are required to confirm their legal status as an Investment Trust, and to submit their gender data for the Board of Directors. If the Investment Trust has a Leadership Team, it is also required to submit their Leadership Gender Data as at 31 October 2026.
8. How do I get started?
The survey will be sent to all in-scope companies at the end of September 2026, and companies are requested to complete their survey and submit their data by 6 November 2026.
9. What is the deadline for submitting Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data?
The deadline for submissions is 6 November 2026.
10. Who should complete and submit the Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data?
The person who is the designated contact 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, appropriated authorised to submit this data on behalf of he company and someone the Women Business Leaders team or BIST can contact in the event of any queries.
11. 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 submission process is straight-forward and should take no more than half an hour to complete the section on gender data.
12. If I notice a mistake in the Leadership or Board Gender Data I have submitted will I be able to change it?
If you need to amend your data, please notify us immediately at leadershipdiversity@businessandtrade.gov.uk.
13. How will the Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data be used by the Women Business Leaders Review team?
The Women Business Leaders Review gathers data from FTSE 350 companies and the 50 Largest Private Companies in scope on over 26,000 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 Women Business Leaders report.
14. 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 Women Business Leaders Review and compiling the report. This includes the Women Business Leaders Steering Group and team, the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, and partners supporting the Women Business Leaders Review website and publication of reports.
15. What are the implications of UK GDPR with regards to asking for permission to use data?
Data Protection and data confidentiality is a priority for the Government and the Women Business Leaders Review team. Please read our latest Privacy Policy.
16. How will the Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data collected be published in the report?
The Leadership and Board Gender Data collected through the survey may be published by the Women Business Leaders Review on an individual company basis and in the aggregate. Where applicable, role holders’ names are captured for completeness and validation purposes only, and will not be published.
17. 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 and the 50 largest private 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.
18. Will Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data my company submitted in previous years be used in the 2026 Women Business 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.
19. Why isn’t this information already available elsewhere?
The composition of FTSE Boards is publicly available information and also reported by various sources. 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 and the 50 largest private companies are requested to submit their Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data at the same time via the survey sent by the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade.
20. What happens if my company doesn’t submit its Leadership Gender Data and the Board Gender Data?
We anticipate all FTSE 350 and the 50 largest private 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.
21. Should my company publish the Leadership Gender Data Women Business 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 Women Business Leaders Review team and other stakeholders to keep updated.
Contact Us
If you have any further questions please contact the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade at leadershipdiversity@businessandtrade.gov.uk or the Women Leaders Review team at info@womenbusinessleaders.co.uk
Parker Review and Women Business Leaders Review Data Collection Survey:
New data fields added for 2026
Initial section:
1. Respondents are asked to select the primary sector of their company from the list below
Ethnic diversity section:
2. In the question asking you to provide “role on the board” for minority ethnic directors, we have added the following response options:
- Senior Independent Director
- Audit/Finance Committee Chair
- Remuneration Committee Chair
- Nomination/Governance Committee Chair
- Risk Committee Chair (if Board committee)
- ESG/Sustainability Committee Chair (if Board committee)
Gender diversity section:
3. All respondents – including FTSE 350 – are asked to provide a full headcount breakdown of the number of men and women on your Board (Executive and Non-Executive Directors)*
4. All respondents – including 50 Largest Private Companies – are asked to provide the gender and name of the holders of key functional (non-Board) roles
5. All respondents are asked to provide the sex and names of the Board Committee Chairs as of 31 October 2026, for the following Committees (if applicable):
- Audit/Finance Committee
- Nomination/Governance Committee
- Remuneration Committee
- Risk Committee
- Sustainability/ESG Committee
6. All respondents are asked: ‘Are you an Investment Trust which does not itself employ a Leadership Team?’ If you respond ‘Yes’ then you are not required to answer the questions on the gender breakdown of your Leadership team.**
7. Respondents who employ a Leadership team are asked: ‘Provide the number of men and women on the Executive Committee who are in P&L roles and in non-P&L roles as at 31 October 2026’
* Note that the number of men and women Executive and Non-Executive Directors on the Boards of the FTSE 350 is not new data to the Review, but was previously collected from Numerable rather than directly from the companies.
** Note that the Board data for the Investment Trusts is not new data to the Review, but was previously collected from Numerable rather than directly from the companies.
