Sir Robert Buckland MP is delighted to have become honorary president of GAIN (Group for Autism, Insurance, Investment and Neurodiversity).
Sir Robert is a passionate champion of neurodiversity and is dedicated to increasing awareness and improving support for neurodivergent individuals and their carers.
Co-chairs of GAIN, Barbara Schonhofer MBE and Laurie Edmans CBE shares, “It is a real testament to the success of our start-up journey to be able to welcome Sir Robert. As our industry enters the next stage in the journey of proactively seeking to employ the skills of autistic and all neurodivergent talent, Sir Robert’s interest and involvement will accelerate the establishment of a thriving eco-system.”
Sir Robert will play a pivotal role in helping GAIN achieve its industry-wide vision to deliver innovative solutions for today’s business problems through the talent, skills and abilities of neurodivergent individuals.
Sir Robert writes, “Following my work last year with GAIN and Zurich, who are based here in my constituency of South Swindon, I am delighted to have become honorary president of GAIN, and I am looking forward to seeing the results of this welcome initiative.
As Chair of the Government’s All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Autism, Sir Robert has recently launched ‘The Buckland Review of Autism Employment’ in partnership with Autistica. This review is designed to enable pathways to boost the employment prospects of autistic people by spreading opportunity and closing the employment gap, with the aim of growing the economy.
The Review will consider issues:
- how employers identify and better support autistic staff already in their workforce;
- what more could be done to prepare autistic people effectively for beginning or returning to a career;
- and working practices or initiatives to reduce stigma and improve the productivity of autistic employees.
This review is wholeheartedly supported by GAIN, being closely matched to its mission to bring about a radical improvement in the employment prospects of neurodiverse individuals in the insurance, investment, pensions and actuarial sectors of financial services.
Johnny Timpson OBE states, “In my former Cabinet Office Disability and Access Ambassador role for the Insurance and Banking sectors, it was very apparent that neurodivergent colleagues faced barriers in accessing reasonable adjustments and progressing their careers. This largely due to employers lacking awareness of the support needs of colleagues or understanding the value of both a neuroinclusive and cognitively diverse workforce.
With our industry being the provider of occupational benefits to UK business, we must take the opportunity to play a leading role in supporting Government policy to improve workplace participation and support Sir Robert's Review to aid business attract, support, develop and retain talented neuroinclusive people.”
Key steps that the industry can take in partnership with GAIN are
- making wellbeing and inclusion for everyone, including neurodivergent colleagues, a pillar of corporate strategy to harness diverse talent;
- objectively evaluating and promoting the effectiveness of adjustments to find out what works for whom, and how quality of support can be benchmarked;
- focusing on people relationships and culture, in particular psychological safety and importantly line manager and team confidence;
- considering how ED&I policies and practices can develop careers and ambitions, moving colleagues from surviving, to progressing and thriving.
