Diversity and Inclusion in UK Tech
- Nancy Maher
- 5 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Promoting women’s full contribution to science, technology, and innovation is not an act of charity or a favour to women. It is a MUST, and it benefits everyone. UN Secretary General, António Guterres 2023
Diversity and inclusion in tech: what the latest UK data shows, and how Kinkajou supports lasting change.
Despite the research showing that diverse teams lead to innovative products and increase creativity, productivity, and profitability. Diversity and inclusion in tech remain critical issues in the UK, and the latest research shows progress remains too slow.
Contents
Diversity and Inclusion in UK Tech Crisis is Costing Billions
Recent government and sector research points to persistent barriers in progression, leadership representation and retention, with women more likely to be concentrated in certain roles and less likely to reach senior technical positions.
In response, the UK government launched a Women in Tech taskforce in late 2025 to help more women enter, stay and lead in tech, reflecting growing recognition that retention and progression are just as important as recruitment.
The government has estimated that the UK economy loses between £2 billion and £3.5 billion each year when women leave tech, making inclusion not only a fairness issue but also an economic one.
BCS’s 2025 Gender Diversity in the Tech Sector report found that women made up just 22% of UK IT specialists in 2024, only a one-point increase on the previous year.
Furthermore, social mobility within the tech industry remains a significant concern, with only 19% of employees originating from working-class backgrounds, compared to 33.3% across other industries. According to a report from the UK Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology, the financial impact of the digital skills gap is estimated at approximately £63 billion annually.
Where The Barriers Are
The headline numbers matter, but the deeper issue is what happens after women enter the sector.
The biggest barriers are no longer just getting women into tech, but keeping them there and helping them move forward. Many organisations still struggle with retention, progression, and the visibility of women in leadership, which means the pipeline narrows long before senior roles are reached.
A related issue is role segregation. Women are often concentrated in people-facing, support, or non-technical functions, while more senior technical and engineering roles remain disproportionately male. That creates an uneven pipeline and reinforces the idea that “tech” leadership looks a certain way.
The cost of that pattern is significant. When experienced women leave the sector, organisations lose capability, institutional knowledge, and future leaders, and the wider industry loses talent it can ill afford to waste. In practical terms, it is not just a diversity problem but a productivity, innovation, and growth problem.
Why Women Leave Tech
Many people believe that most women leave the tech industry due to the challenge of juggling work and caregiving responsibilities. This is a myth.
Recent UK research shows that women are usually not leaving because of caregiving alone. The strongest drivers are a lack of career progression, poor recognition, pay dissatisfaction, weak sponsorship, and an unsupportive culture.
The Lovelace Report found that among mid- to senior-level women in UK tech, 25% left due to a lack of career advancement, 17% due to insufficient recognition, and 15% due to pay inequity; only 3% cited caregiving. That same research suggests the problem is systemic rather than personal.
When Women Leave Tech
One in three women plan to leave their roles because of limited career progression, poor work-life balance, and an unsupportive culture. Diversity In Tech UK Gov 2025
Women are most likely to leave mid-career when promotion should become more visible, but often stalls instead.
The Lovelace Report found that 75% of women with 11–20 years’ experience had waited more than 3 years for a promotion, and nearly 40% of those with 20+ years' experience had waited more than 5 years.
The Diversity In Tech UK Gov 2025 summary also shows that women plan exits before they actually leave, with one in three saying they intend to leave their role. That suggests retention issues are building before resignation happens, especially where progression, flexibility, and culture are weak.
What Organisations Can Do
Improve Workplace Culture. Kinkajou helps teams and leaders pause and examine the culture they already have, then compare it with the culture they want to create. Through workshops and coaching, leaders and teams uncover everyday habits, assumptions, and behaviours that shape their culture — and turn those insights into shared actions that build a healthy culture.
Develop Your Leaders. Leaders play a huge role in creating a culture of belonging. According to Accenture, there is a disconnect between leadership perceptions and employees' reality. While 68% of leaders believe they have cultivated empowering environments where employees feel a sense of belonging, only 36% of employees agree. That's why leadership development matters. Leadership myths persist, especially among new (accidental) managers.
Peer Coaching Circles. As well as women in leadership coaching programmes, peer coaching circles can be particularly beneficial for women leaders who experience being the only one in the room.
Revamp Recruitment and Retention Policies. Code Girls First's Top 10 Recommendations: Hiring, Retaining and Progressing Women in Tech provides insights on how organisations can design for inclusion. For example, flexible working, enhanced parental leave policies, fairer hiring processes, returner programmes and non-traditional pathways.
Focus on Sponsorship. Mentoring helps people grow, but sponsorship helps them advance by ensuring they are seen, stretched, and advocated for when opportunities arise. That has to be backed by leadership accountability, so inclusion is owned at the senior level rather than left to HR or employee networks alone.
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