The Disability Dividend: Unlocking Growth in UK Financial Services

The ActionAble Financial Services Roundtable, supported by EY, brought together C-suite leaders from major UK banks and insurers to focus on one practical question: how to turn disability inclusion into commercial progress and a board-level action.

Senior leaders came together to explore what makes organisations prioritise disability inclusion as a driver of growth, productivity and performance. The result is The Disability Dividend: Unlocking Growth in UK Financial Services – a report shaped by roundtable participants.

Why this report matters

Disability now affects up to one in four customers and one in six colleagues, yet many Boards still lack the data and business case needed to act.

With contributions from leaders in Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest, Santander, Aviva, L&G, Nationwide, Royal London, AbilityNet, Valuable 500 and others, this report sets out the business case for disability inclusion. It introduces the Disability Dividend Framework, centred on four drivers:

1. Customer Growth (Revenue Driver): Capturing underserved and growing markets.
2. Personal Performance via Enablement (Productivity Driver): Closing the non-disabled:disabled colleague engagement gap.
3. Tomorrow’s Talent (Talent Driver): Attracting and retaining the next generation of skilled workers.
4. Universal Design (Innovation Driver): Embedding the principles of accessibility and inclusive design from the start, to “design for one, solve for many.”

The Roundtable agreed that Disability inclusion is not a niche diversity issue. It is a leadership responsibility and a commercial imperative. This report is designed to help organisations move from compliance to competitiveness. It outlines new, practical next steps for the sector – from measuring the disability engagement gap to embedding inclusive design and strengthening talent pipelines – and shows how disability inclusion can drive stronger performance for colleagues, customers and shareholders.