Four in five FTSE firms have only had male bosses

With the emphasis on gender equality, a new report has found that four out of five companies across the FTSE 100 and S&P 100 have never had a female chief executive, as boards fail to promote them into positions of power in their career.
Across the two nations, 80 per cent of firms have never had a woman lead the companies, according to the latest tracker from Women in Work, despite many being appointed to board roles. Just 38 out of 200 companies across the two indices have appointed a female chief executive since 1997, half which have recorded appointments in the last ten years.
While appointments have accelerated in the past decade, just nine companies in London’s top index currently have a female chief executive including BP, Aviva and Vodafone Group.
Pavita Cooper, chair of the 30 per cent club UK, said these figures are not due to a lack of talent among women in corporate, but instead a failure among companies to promote them into “power roles”.
“This gap is not about talent. It’s a promotion gap. There are not enough women being promoted up into the jobs from which you can succeed to be CEO,” said Cooper.
“The problem is, they’re not in what we call power roles. They are not in the divisional jobs. They’re not running the biggest part of the bank.” Cooper argued the gap appears during the middle of a woman’s career, as progress into senior operational roles can be stalled by time taken out of employment. Between the age of 35 and 44, 70 per cent of women step out of the workplace for caring responsibilities, according to findings from Octopus Money, despite it typically being the period many find their earnings and career progression peaking.
Cooper said: “Between the age of 30 to 40, when most people are having to really lean into the key point in their career, women are also raising families. And then, for women who are kind of getting to that very top job, you will have kids about to go to university, you might be caring for your own parents.” Cooper also called out “the ambush” of return to office mandates which are sweeping the City (the financial district of London) despite staff uproars, arguing the loss of flexibility hits parents in particular.
Last month, Barclays staff revolted against a tightened working from home policy which would see thousands of staff in London’s Canary Wharf office three days a week.
“Wealthy men on Wall Street telling women they have got to go back to the office five days a week isn’t helpful,” she said.
Elsewhere, with the autumn Budget scheduled for 28 October, there is speculation on tax hike, particularly on the much-hated Inheritance tax where receipts have reached a new high as frozen thresholds and rising asset values drag more households into the tax net.
Inheritance tax (IHT) receipts have hit £3.8bn so far this financial year, surpassing the £3.7bn recorded at the same point last year, according to the latest data from HMRC.
Total receipts reached £8.5bn in the 2025/26 financial year. The rise comes as frozen tax thresholds pull more people into higher tax bands, while assets including houses and stocks rise in value.
The nil-rate band has remained at £325,000 since 2009, while house prices have steadily climbed, particularly in the South-East. Average house prices in the region hit £381,000 in August, while London prices reached £554,000.
Head of personal finance at AJ Bell, Sarah Coles, said frozen bands are “cutting deeper” in the face of higher house prices, meaning many Brits can no longer “escape this much-hated tax.”