The proportion of chief executives from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds has remained static for the past four years at just 7 per cent, new research has found.

For the past four years, just 7 per cent of chief executive respondents to the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations’ annual pay and equalities survey have been from black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds.

The annual pay and equalities survey, published today by Acevo, is based on an online survey of more than 1,300 voluntary sector chief executives carried out between May and June.

It found that the proportion of black leaders was particularly small, accounting for just 1 per cent of respondents.

The survey found that 2 per cent of respondents were people with a mixed ethnic background or from multiple ethnic groups, while 3 per cent were from Asian backgrounds.

Data from the 2021 census showed that 18 per cent of people in England and Wales were from a black, Asian or minority ethnic group.

The report also found that just 34 per cent of chief executives said they were satisfied with the ethnic diversity of their boards. This was the same as last year, but up from 29 per cent in 2022.

One in five chief executives reported having a disability, learning difference or health condition, down from a peak of 25 per cent last year. 

The report also found that nearly a third of chief executives had experienced barriers or discrimination during their career in the voluntary sector, rising from 27 per cent last year to 30 per cent this year.

Women were more likely to have experienced this, with 36 per cent of female chiefs reporting this compared with just 19 per cent of their male peers.

Younger respondents were also more likely to have experienced barriers or discrimination, with half of 16- to 34-year-olds reporting this, compared with just 39 per cent of 35- to 44-year-olds and 22 per cent of 55- to 64-year-olds.

Disability representation was the area where chief executives were the most likely to report dissatisfaction with diversity on their boards with no formal plans to address it, with 28 per cent saying this. 

Just 30 per cent said they were satisfied with disability representation on their boards, the report found.

This was a gradual increase from last year, when just 28 per cent said they were satisfied with disability representation on their boards.

Satisfaction with religious diversity was still low, with just 31 per cent saying they were happy with the representation of religions on their boards. 

Just 36 per cent said they were satisfied with the representation of different sexual orientations on their board.

Jane Ide, chief executive of Acevo, told Third Sector: “There are many organisations that are working incredibly hard to improve the diversity at trustee level, but it’s clearly something we’re struggling with and at the most fundamental and strategic level as a sector, we’ve really got to work out what we’re going to do differently about this.”

The highest level of chief executive satisfaction with board diversity was with experience and knowledge, with seven in 10 saying they were satisfied with diversity in this area.

This was followed by satisfaction with gender diversity, with 68 per cent of chief executives being satisfied in this area.

Ide said: “For a sector that is driven by purpose and the belief that change can be made real, we seem to be either deeply unwilling or systemically unable to make meaningful change for the people that we task with leading our sector.

She said Acevo was “committed to driving change” where it was most needed, but added: “We need chairs, boards of trustees, funders and others to recognise and acknowledge that the systemic challenges that we have been reporting for well over a decade are putting a brake on that change – and our sector, and the people we are here to serve, are losing out as a result.”