Launched in 2018, the TTC was founded by a number of organisations across the recruitment, tech and social enterprise fields, and is committed to encouraging businesses to become more proactive in delivering greater gender diversity in the UK tech workforce, including the recruitment of more women in the industry.

The Charter’s first benchmark report found that while women hold 26 per cent of the technical roles within the businesses of its 200 signatories, the UK-wide average remains only at 18 per cent.

According to the benchmarking report, which is tracking progress of the technology sector so far, it said 36 per cent of its signatories already have policies in place to increase the number of women included in interview shortlists, with 32 per cent stating they will add women to such shortlists later this year.

Companies such as BT, Microsoft and Vodafone are among the signatories of the charter so far, who have all made pledges in relation to their approach to recruitment and retention.

“One year on from the launch of the Tech Talent Charter, it’s encouraging to see that there’s real buy-in to improve the diversity of our workforce,” said Margot James, Digital and Creative Industries minister.

“However, with only one in five digital tech jobs nationally covered by women there is more work to do to get the balance right.

“Diversity makes good business sense and it’s positive to see smaller companies leading the way. I now want more of our larger companies to sign up to the Charter and commit to getting more women into tech jobs.”

The report suggests smaller businesses were better at promoting diversity, with 53 per cent of technical roles at micro-companies held by women, compared to just 19 per cent at large companies.

Debbie Foster, chief executive of Tech Talent Charter said: “We are delighted to see our smaller companies challenging assumptions that they are too small or too busy to focus on diversity. This report clearly shows every size and type of company can and must become more inclusive and diverse.

“The key is learning from each other. At our events across the country our smaller companies are helping larger companies find ways of ‘thinking like a start-up’, to pilot smaller scale-approaches and then scaling them, rather than waiting to create the perfect solution and then trickle it down.”

The Charter said its focus for 2019 was to work with more outsourcing companies, after its report found 57 per cent outsourced some or all its technology roles to third parties and aims to push firms to “ask more” of their outsourcing partners.

According to a report from the organisation WISE – which aims to increase the participation, contribution and success of women in the UK’s scientific technology and engineering (STEM) workforce – between 2017 and 2018, there was a 0.3 per cent drop of women in the core STEM workforce in the UK.

Furthermore, a Women Engineering Society (WES) report from January 2018 revealed that the UK has the lowest percentage of female engineering professionals in the whole of Europe, at less than 10 per cent, in comparison to countries such as Latvia, Bulgaria and Cyprus which are at nearly 30 per cent.

A study released by Inclusive Boards in November 2018 has highlighted the lack of diversity in tech leadership, severly affecting women as well as people from ethnic minority and lower-income backgrounds.

Launched in 2018, the TTC was founded by a number of organisations across the recruitment, tech and social enterprise fields, and is committed to encouraging businesses to become more proactive in delivering greater gender diversity in the UK tech workforce, including the recruitment of more women in the industry.

The Charter’s first benchmark report found that while women hold 26 per cent of the technical roles within the businesses of its 200 signatories, the UK-wide average remains only at 18 per cent.

According to the benchmarking report, which is tracking progress of the technology sector so far, it said 36 per cent of its signatories already have policies in place to increase the number of women included in interview shortlists, with 32 per cent stating they will add women to such shortlists later this year.

Companies such as BT, Microsoft and Vodafone are among the signatories of the charter so far, who have all made pledges in relation to their approach to recruitment and retention.

“One year on from the launch of the Tech Talent Charter, it’s encouraging to see that there’s real buy-in to improve the diversity of our workforce,” said Margot James, Digital and Creative Industries minister.

“However, with only one in five digital tech jobs nationally covered by women there is more work to do to get the balance right.

“Diversity makes good business sense and it’s positive to see smaller companies leading the way. I now want more of our larger companies to sign up to the Charter and commit to getting more women into tech jobs.”

The report suggests smaller businesses were better at promoting diversity, with 53 per cent of technical roles at micro-companies held by women, compared to just 19 per cent at large companies.

Debbie Foster, chief executive of Tech Talent Charter said: “We are delighted to see our smaller companies challenging assumptions that they are too small or too busy to focus on diversity. This report clearly shows every size and type of company can and must become more inclusive and diverse.

“The key is learning from each other. At our events across the country our smaller companies are helping larger companies find ways of ‘thinking like a start-up’, to pilot smaller scale-approaches and then scaling them, rather than waiting to create the perfect solution and then trickle it down.”

The Charter said its focus for 2019 was to work with more outsourcing companies, after its report found 57 per cent outsourced some or all its technology roles to third parties and aims to push firms to “ask more” of their outsourcing partners.

According to a report from the organisation WISE – which aims to increase the participation, contribution and success of women in the UK’s scientific technology and engineering (STEM) workforce – between 2017 and 2018, there was a 0.3 per cent drop of women in the core STEM workforce in the UK.

Furthermore, a Women Engineering Society (WES) report from January 2018 revealed that the UK has the lowest percentage of female engineering professionals in the whole of Europe, at less than 10 per cent, in comparison to countries such as Latvia, Bulgaria and Cyprus which are at nearly 30 per cent.

A study released by Inclusive Boards in November 2018 has highlighted the lack of diversity in tech leadership, severly affecting women as well as people from ethnic minority and lower-income backgrounds.