Women in Finance Charter

Supporting the Women in Finance Charter

Berry & Oak is committed to supporting a fair and ethical workplace for all of our colleagues.

We will always employ the most suitable person for each job role, irrespective of gender and monitor diversity on applications, however, we are passionate about encouraging more women into our profession, which is generally still predominately male.

About the Charter 

The Women in Finance Charter commits financial services firms to supporting the progression of women into senior management by focussing on developing existing colleagues with the potential to progress, setting public targets for improving gender diversity in senior management roles; and requiring firms to publicly report on progress to deliver against these internal targets to support the transparency and accountability needed to drive change.

The Charter was developed following a joint report, Empowering Productivity: Harnessing the Talents of Women in Financial Services, by HM Treasury and Jayne-Anne Gadhia, CEO of Virgin Money, on increasing opportunities for women in the financial services sector to improve gender equality.

Further information about the Charter can be found at Gov.uk.

Our commitment to gender diversity in our profession

The history of Berry & Oak and its owner managers demonstrates its strong roots supporting gender equality and the progression of females in the financial planning profession.

Berry & Oak was formed by husband and wife Andrew & Sarah Elson. Between them they have over 50 years financial planning experience.

At Berry & Oak we believe that the skill and empathy women can bring to our profession is largely undervalued, both in the number of women who are encouraged to enter the profession and by inequality of pay. We want to ensure that we are part of any movement that is working towards changing this. At Berry & Oak we are proud to have a number of women in senior roles within our team.

Our commitments to the Women in Finance Charter

The Charter helps improve opportunities and progression for women and ensures that talent rises to the top in the finance sector regardless of gender.

Our target is to maintain representation of women in senior management roles in Berry & Oak of at least 50% at all times.  We have put clear measures in place to help us maintain this.

Our plan to support the Charter includes:

1. Listening to our colleagues and improving our policies and communication.
2. Supporting colleagues through flexible working and professional development.
3. Supporting female progression into senior roles, through training, supervision and mentoring.
4. Ensuring equal pay between colleagues for the skills they perform, irrespective of gender.
5. Establishing (and publishing) our business values, both at Firm and Team level, in a language that reflects our corporate style and includes empowerment, respect, kindness and care.