In 2024, I worked on a secondment basis as the G15’s first Diversity and Inclusion Specialist. As the G15 are representative of London’s largest housing associations, one of my main goals coming into the role was to better understand our workforces and how representative we are of the diverse communities we serve. Why? Because representation leads to better outcomes for our residents.
All G15 members routinely collect their own diversity data, and participate in the National Housing Federation’s EDI data tool collections, but we had never analysed our workforce demographics as a group. As the G15 Diversity and Inclusion Specialist at the time, I led on addressing this data gap for the G15.
Drawing on the National Housing Federation’s (NHF) best practice framework, alongside guidance from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the Government Statistical Service (GSS), I created a new framework for our G15 members to complete.
The initiative encompassed all 11 organisations within the G15 and involved gathering data from a total workforce of 31,326 people. The goal was to build a clear, shared understanding of staff demographics and to identify any gaps in representation or data completeness. This work marked a major milestone in the G15’s EDI journey, and demonstrated a strong, collective commitment to transparency, collaboration, and meaningful progress.
Key findings and recommendations
Findings from the data collected in 2025, found the workforce of the G15 is continuously evolving and demonstrates a rich diversity across multiple characteristics. Age distribution is well-balanced, with nearly half of all colleagues falling within the 30-49 age bracket. This offers a strong base of experience and capability.
Ethnic diversity is a notable strength across G15 staff, with 16.2% of employees identifying as Black/African/Caribbean/Black British. This is significantly above the national average. Given that Black people in England and Wales are three times more likely to live in social housing, maintaining and strengthening this level of representation within the workforce is essential.
However, we recognise that more needs to be done to improve representation at senior leadership levels.
Initiatives such as the G15 Accelerate programme and the annual G15 Ethnicity in Housing Awards reflect a clear commitment to progressing equity, but sustained and targeted action is needed to ensure that leadership reflects the diversity of the communities the sector serves.
Across other protected characteristics, the data reveals meaningful insights. Women make up 54% of the G15 workforce, closely aligning with national housing sector benchmarks. LGBTQ+ representation is slightly above national averages, with figures broadly reflective of London’s diverse population.
However, only 7.6% of colleagues report having a disability or long-term health condition, suggesting room for improvement in representation and support. These findings collectively offer a positive picture of progress, while reinforcing the importance of continued action to build a truly inclusive and representative workforce across all levels.
You can read more about the findings across all characteristics in our report.
What did we learn from this data collection exercise?
Collecting workforce diversity data gave the G15 a clearer understanding of the demographic makeup of our 31,000+ employees and provided a crucial baseline for measuring progress.
Data gaps
The exercise highlighted key data gaps. Similarly to the NHF’s 2023 EDI data tool report, the most notable data gaps were around socio-economic background and caring responsibilities, with only one and four member organisations respectively collecting this information. Given that around 16% of the UK population are unpaid carers, this suggests that as many as 5,000 employees may have caring responsibilities not currently reflected in workforce data.
Inconsistencies in reporting
The data collection exercise also revealed the complexity of capturing EDI data, particularly when dealing with sensitive information. Inconsistencies across member organisations in how diversity questions were framed created challenges in comparability. To address this, the G15 is now working on a project to standardise data language and categories across all members, ensuring a consistent and robust approach for future reporting.
Disclosure rates further highlighted where trust and engagement need to be strengthened, with higher “prefer not to say” responses for sexual orientation, religion, and marital status. Disability was also highlighted as a key group where information was unknown.
Next steps
These insights are now informing actionable commitments aimed at closing gaps, improving representation, and deepening understanding of intersecting identities particularly around disability and long-term health conditions.
We are specifically reviewing our Ethnicity Pledge originally launched in 2020, and working closely with the G15 HR Directors and CEOs to better understand the barriers and ensure any commitments we put in place for the pledge to 2030 are tangible, meaningful and will truly turn the dial.
With these findings the G15 can now work closely with key groups both in the sector and externally such as Women in Social Housing, House Proud, UNIFY, and Carers UK, to help address the gaps in data and continue to build a more inclusive workforce.
Why should this matter to NHF members in 2026?
The NHF’s EDI data collection tool, launching on 19 March 2026, will request comprehensive demographic information like that gathered by the G15. Our experience demonstrates the value of starting this work early both to understand current workforce diversity and to update data practices where needed. Beginning this process ahead of the NHF’s tool submission deadline, the 15 May, will help ensure housing associations can contribute a more accurate and meaningful picture of the sector’s diversity.
Comparing your workforce data with the demographic profile of where your stock is located helps you see where representation gaps might exist, and to then use that data as an opportunity to engage with your people, educate, and build trust.
Through a structured and collaborative approach, the G15 has shown how aligning data categories across organisations can lead to more consistent, insightful analysis. A key learning from our work is that collecting data is only the first step. Identifying gaps, engaging with staff to increase disclosure, and using the insights to inform real, lasting change are all just as important.
Housing associations are encouraged to begin their data readiness work now, using the NHF’s ‘Monitoring Workforce Diversity’ resource and 'Step-by-step guide', so they are well positioned to submit their EDI data tools.
Conclusion
The G15's inaugural group-wide diversity data collection, has laid the foundations for better representation and inclusion across London's largest housing associations. It highlights the impact of a collaborative and consistent approach and offers a practical blueprint for preparing for the NHF’s 2026 EDI data tool.
While important progress has been made, challenges remain particularly in ethnic diversity at leadership level and in gathering comprehensive data on caring responsibilities and socio-economic background. By continuing our partnership with UNIFY and prioritising efforts to close data gaps around disability and neurodiversity, the G15 is working to drive meaningful and lasting change.
As the housing sector evolves, access to reliable and inclusive data will be essential to shaping services, workplaces, and strategies that genuinely reflect the communities we serve. The G15’s experience demonstrates that this work goes beyond compliance. It is about changing organisational culture, breaking down barriers, and making inclusion a real, everyday experience for all.
