Championing Social Mobility in the Insurance Industry: A Conversation with Jacqueline Girow from LIIBA

Jacqueline Girow, Executive Director at LIIBA, is a fierce advocate for social mobility in the insurance sector. She is deeply committed to changing perceptions and pathways into the industry. In a recent conversation with our Communications Lead, Sarah-Jane Freni, she shared her insights on the structural barriers people from lower socio-economic backgrounds face — and the practical ways the industry can step up to address them.

Girow comes from a working-class background and grew up with the expectation that she should leave school at 16 to earn a living. Her first job happened to be in the insurance industry as cashier in the accounts department of a Leicester firm. From there, she has worked her way up the ranks and earned vocational qualifications with the Chartered Insurance Institute, Institute of IT Training, and the Association for Project Management. Eventually, she joined the London & International Insurance Brokers Association (LIIBA), the trade association representing insurance brokers bringing business into London. With her background, Girow knows better than most the barriers young people might face when trying to enter the insurance industry.

In an industry as varied and multifaceted as financial services, tracking meaningful progress on diversity and inclusion can be hard. Data collection practices across insurance, pensions, securities, and finance companies all have different challenges and the picture across the sector often lacks clarity. Girow acknowledges the complexity of this landscape and the difficulty it presents for both regulators and firms trying to drive real change.

She believes the solution lies not just with regulation, but with how businesses themselves tackle the issue of socio-economic diversity and early careers pipelines.

While social class is not currently a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010, Girow notes that the business case is increasingly undeniable. “If you don’t have the diversity of thought that comes from having a diverse workforce, the evidence is clear that you’re going to suffer long term.”  Drawing from her work with early careers talent, she observes that diversity and inclusion — including socio-economic background — are high on the agenda for Gen Z, so to attract and retain talent, facing the issue head on is a must.

Girow’s commitment isn’t just theoretical — she leads and supports a range of programmes to open doors for young people. She leads LIIBA’s equity and inclusion panel and one of its areas of focus is bringing about change to remove the ‘class ceiling’. They acknowledge that socio-economic diversity in the sector is lacking, and they are driving multiple initiatives to address this issue.

Future First insight day with LIIBA and Lloyd’s

LIIBA recently became one of Future First’s employer partners. Girow states that she liked Future First’s approach of “you can’t be what you can’t see”. She reflects on how helpful it would have been to have like-minded people to talk to when she was at the beginning of her career. She also likes the simplicity of the Future First Hub and just being able to get involved with your local community. She states: “Even though the London insurance market is centred around The City, many firms have satellite offices outside London. And I just thought this is a great idea for some of our members to be able to connect with their local community.”

Girow is also proud of the Get Into Insurance initiative run in partnership with the King’s Trust and one of their member firms, Howden. “It started with a pilot four years ago and has gone from strength to strength,” she explains. The programme combines insurance theory, presentations from business areas, and two weeks of work experience, targeting young people aged 18–30 who have struggled to access employment. The success rate is high — participants are not only completing the programme but actively seeking roles in insurance.

She also works with social mobility charity upReach, supporting 50 university students on an insurance springboard programme, offering work experience including projects that simulate real business challenges. “We give them a consulting-style brief to imagine they’re presenting to a large firm. It helps them build time management, collaboration, and presentation skills.” She believes that the best way to make an impact is to have short, sharp insights or skills-based projects that really show what a career in the industry looks like.

When asked what advice she’d offer members of her network, her answer is clear: start with education. “Look at the research — both on the barriers and on the benefits. It makes good business sense, not just moral sense.” She also stresses the importance of understanding equity: “This isn’t about pushing one group down to lift another. It’s about helping everyone have a fair shot.”

In light of the government’s updated statutory guidance on careers education — which includes earlier and more frequent work experience opportunities from Year 7 onwards — Girow sees even more reason for business to get involved. She points to tools like London Insurance Life’s website, Chartered Insurance Institute’s online experiences and simulation platforms like The Forage as scalable ways to engage younger students. “You don’t always need a physical placement. A virtual experience, a talk, a project — those can all be just as meaningful.”

In closing, Girow reflects on the energy and potential she sees in today’s youth: “They’re engaged. They care about fairness. And they’re more respectful than we ever were,” she jokes.

Girow’s passion and commitment to social justice really shines through. Her work demonstrates that the financial services sector has a real opportunity to become more equitable, and future-ready if leaders are willing to listen, engage and open their doors.