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Howe+Co remain committed to respecting and promoting diversity in all its forms, both protected and otherwise, within this firm.
30 of Howe & co’s staff took part in an internal review process and voluntarily completed a detailed questionnaire, based upon guidance developed by the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority. The detailed results and our staff make up review and commitment to diversity can be found here The mean average age of our staff is 35 – 44. The next largest area is 45-54. We employed slightly more women than men. No persons identify themselves as transgender. We have no persons that consider themselves to be disabled, however at least one colleague’s work is effected by health problems. 13% of our staff identified as Asian, 17% identified as Black, and 69% identified as white. 17% of our staff identified as not having a religion, 3% as Buddhist, 60% as Christian, 3% Muslim, and 7% as Sikh. 90% of our staff identified as heterosexual, the remainder either not answering or preferring not to say. 67% of our staff attended a UK state school, 17% went to a private UK school, with 10% educated outside of the UK. Over half of our staff identified as having degree’s. 17% of those that had degrees were the first in their family to have so done, 33% had family who had a attended university previously, 40% of our staff did not have a degree. 37% of our staff were primary carers for children under 18, and 3% spent between 1 – 19 hours of unpaid time providing care to a person with a long term physical or mental illness caused by disability or age. From these figures we will continue to target recruitment in under represented areas. We have already signed up to the Disability Confident Scheme, and our building is already adapted to allow full access for disabled persons; both as employees and visitors. We will approach organisations to take advice on attracting persons to apply for roles who identify as having a sexuality other than heterosexual and or identify as disabled. David Enright (partner at Howe & Co) said: “It is important to Howe & Co that we reflect the community and society in which we work, so that we can draw on the talents, skills and experiences of all people. It is only by careful monitoring that we can continue to progress towards the goal of being a truly diverse and inclusive organisation; for the benefit of our staff, our clients and for the community in which we work” 
3 Comments
In early 2016 I began working with a very impressive group of 12 men, all of whom alleged that the had suffered sexual abuse as boys in a Catholic Seminary College operated by the Comboni Missionary Order (previously Verona Fathers). I found these men to be mature, well educated and highly articulate. Their accounts of alleged abuse at the hands of priests of the Order were convincing and deeply troubling. Their accounts of the efforts they had made at the time of the abuse and over the many following years, to hold this international Catholic Religious Order to account were deeply impressive.
Almost a million British Children attend schools run by or associated with the Catholic Church. It is therefore a matter of great importance to these men and to all right minded people that children are safe in schools. In June 2016 I assisted these men to apply for core participant status in the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA). This is a national public Inquiry into historic child sexual abuse, which is seeking to learn lessons so as to protect children in the future. |
