BCS policy recommendations for Diversity in Tech:
Improving diversity in the IT workforce is essential to ensure equal opportunity and create tech products and services that are truly representative and inclusive. Urgent action is needed to address the stark underrepresentation of women—particularly Black women—people with disabilities, and older workers, unlocking the full potential of a more diverse and innovative tech sector.
- Reform the computing curriculum to retain more students beyond age 14, with content that better reflects girls' and women's interests.
- Implement workplace practices that support flexible and inclusive working conditions, benefiting women, carers, disabled people, and older workers.
- Promote part-time opportunities in IT to mirror the flexibility of other sectors.
- Support for Black Women in Tech by tackling barriers through targeted support, flexible options, career development opportunities, and by addressing exclusionary workplace cultures.
- Data-led D&I policy revisions: Regularly review and update diversity and inclusion policies using accurate workforce data.
- Foster an inclusive culture: move beyond compliance to build genuinely inclusive environments across the tech industry.
- BCS is committed to championing these changes to ensure the UK tech sector benefits from the broadest possible talent pool.
BCS commitments
Like many other industries, there are complex and wide-ranging challenges we need to address. At BCS we are committed to improving equality, diversity and inclusion together with the rest of the industry.
- Over the past three years we have been listening to our members and set up new specialist groups that supports underrepresented groups within the industry. Have a look at the work they have been doing and how to get involved: EMBRACE, Pride SG, NeurodiverseIT, Digital Divide SG.
- BCSWomen continues to provide support for female IT professionals, as well as mentoring and encouraging women and girls into tech careers.
- Black women have been identified in our research as the most underrepresent group working in tech. To support this, BCS provides Coding Black Females (CBF) with 100 bursaries per year for our membership.
- As part of the partnership with CBF, BCS & CBF came together to produce a report which looks at the issues black women face in tech or trying to get into a tech career. Read the report here.
- BCS is an active member of the Tech Talent Charter.
- Education is a key area for BCS in our efforts to enrich the pipeline with diverse talent and we are seeing results, in England, the number of female candidates for computing A level has grown by 92% since 2019, and males by 62%, but despite our own and industry efforts, 94% of girls drop computer science at the first opportunity, around 20% percent of the tech workforce is female with Black Women making up 0.7% of the total.
- At BCS we are committed to ensuring all our events and member communities are truly representative of the profession.
BCS’s slogan is ‘Making IT good for society’, therefore it is our responsibility, as the professional body for IT, to ensure the chartered professionals in our industry are representative and diverse, especially as the future talent pipeline emerges.
Articles, papers and reports
Take a look at our most recent papers and reports, or view all of our published policy papers.
Get involved
Join in
Discover BCS membership! You will be joining a thriving community of IT professionals and benefits include access to regular events, conferences, meetings, as well the chance to join our members’ groups such as EMBRACE.
Share your support
BCS regularly polls IT professionals and members on topical issues. Our surveys are one way that we listen to our members’ opinions and this helps to form our positions on major areas of public policy. Keep a look out for polls around diversity and inclusion.
Companies we partner with:
