Over the past seven years, as part of its aim to make IT good for society, BCS has been tracking and reporting upon levels of female representation within the IT labour market, highlighting areas of particular concern for the industry and supporting infrastructure and providing supporting evidence for those seeking to improve the gender balance within our industry.

In 2017, we expanded the reach of our analysis to cover other ‘minority groups’ - namely, disabled people, ethnic minorities and older workers.

The insights contained within these reports are drawn primarily from an analysis of secondary data from the ONS Labour Force Survey (see notes for details).

These reports aim to inform BCS policy as we provide a definitive source of information concerning the levels of ‘minority’ representation amongst the IT professions. We also want to identify and explore the extent to which the market is failing those from minority groups, as demonstrated by below-average levels of representation and compensation amongst these groups.

Through our campaigning work, we aim to highlight potential actions that can be initiated to address the imbalances and inequalities identified.