Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Liontrust believes that its people should be appointed to their roles based on skills, ability and performance and makes all appointments within the guidelines of its equal opportunities policy. We are committed to greater diversity, including gender and ethnicity, and the benefits that this will bring to the business.

We are an equal opportunities employer and it is our policy to ensure that all job applicants and employees are treated fairly and on merit regardless of their race, gender, marital status, age, disability, religious belief or sexual orientation. During the year 2023-24, we reviewed and updated our diversity policy; Senior Management and the Board continue to believe that greater diversity will enhance the performance of the business.

The Board regularly reviews the gender split across the Group and has asked management to address the issue of under representation of women in senior management. Liontrust has improved the diversity of the Board over the last few years currently with 43% female representation. The Board will continue to work to ensure the composition of the Board and the workforce is representative of wider society. As part of the Executive Directors’ strategic objectives, there is a commitment to gender-balanced shortlists of candidates at the beginning of a recruitment process.

Liontrust’s current gender balance is broadly 13:9 male:female with men predominating in more senior positions. This reflects the history of the asset management industry, the companies we have acquired and is typical of the financial services industry. The Board and senior management are actively seeking to address this and investing in leadership development at the ‘direct report’ level. Senior management continue to focus on attracting and retaining female talent by updating policies and creating a culture to address the gender balance and gap at Liontrust.

As at the 31st March 2024, Liontrust’s total of 213 employees/ partners was broken down as follows:

For the same period to 31st March 2024, Liontrust’s total of 213 employees/ partners seniority was broken down as follows:

We ensure there is a good gender mix of candidates in all recruitment, removing all-male recruitment processes, providing training to staff on diversity, reviewing our policies to remove unconscious bias and encourage diversity and offering flexible maternity, paternity and shared parental leave and flexible working policies to help support staff. We have signed terms with a female focused search firm.

Liontrust tracks and analyses our gender pay gap (the percentage male employees overall are paid more than female employees), and it is more than the average for the financial services sector. Although the gender pay and bonus gaps between female and male employees could be expected to decline gradually as we continue to recruit and develop senior female talent across the business both the Board and senior management are seeking to transition the business more quickly.

The McGregor-Smith review on ‘Race in the Workplace’, noted that in 2016, 14% of the working age population are from a BAME background, with this expected to increase to 21% by 2051. BAME individuals made up only 10% of the UK workforce and held only 6% of top management positions in the UK.

As at the 31st March 2024, Liontrust’s total of 213 staff was broken down as follows:

We will continue to encourage our staff to voluntarily disclose this information as we believe it is important to measure the effectiveness of our initiatives to allow us to make further progress where necessary.

The Parker Review sets out achievable objectives and timescales to encourage greater diversity and provides practical tools to support Board members of UK companies to address the issue. The Review recommends that an increase the ethnic diversity of UK Boards by proposing each FTSE 100 Board to have at least one director from an ethnic minority background by 2021 and for each FTSE 250 Board to do the same by 2024. Liontrust already meets this recommendation. In a recent update, each FTSE 350 company will be asked to set a percentage target for senior management positions that will be occupied by ethnic minority executives by December 2027. Although Liontrust do not currently meet the criteria, the Board continue to review appropriate targets for the Company.

Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee

Our established Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee (DEI Committee) chaired by our COO/CFO provides feedback and recommendations to the Management Committees, Nomination Committee and the Board. The purpose of the Committee is to address the challenges and opportunities arising from the following topics:

• Preventing and eliminating discrimination, including unconscious bias.
• Raising awareness of the importance and benefits of diversity and equity to enhance our culture and innovation.
• Ensuring policies and procedures promote diversity across the company.
• Increasing awareness through training, mentoring and coaching.
• Highlighting changes required to promote diversity and equity.
• Attracting people from diverse backgrounds to join Liontrust and the asset management industry in general.

The Committee meets regularly to make progress across this important area. At the outset of the Committee we partnered with GP Strategies to audit our DEI position and conclusions from this audit continue to inform the Committee in developing its strategy. During 2023 we have defined our DEI strategy under 5 strategic DEI pillars:

• Clients and Investors
• People and culture
• Operations and Finance
• Governance
• Data and Insights

With a focus on training, the Committee have organised training for all staff on Inclusion for All and provided an extensive programme of Wellbeing training tailored to both Managers and Staff. Heads of Department completed sessions around ‘Making Inclusion Real’ the objective of which was to consider how the leaders act as change agents for inclusion, and to understand the impact leadership has on how inclusion is felt across the Liontrust.

The Committee have hosted events through the year to ensure an inclusive culture and somewhere where everyone can be themselves:

• Pride
• Black History Month
• IWD

During the year we have partnered with Mental Health at Work to deliver a well-being and mental health approach. Mental Health at Work, a not for profit, Community Interest Company (CIC) and a subsidiary of the Mental Health Foundation created the bespoke programme for Liontrust based on feedback from our managers and staff with sessions delivered through Spring and Summer.