Overview
On 28 October 2025, the House of Commons Treasury Committee (the Committee) published a letter from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), outlining the steps that the FCA has taken to investigate and uncover instances of non-financial misconduct (NFM) in response to the Committee’s 2024 “Sexism in the City” inquiry report. NFM includes behaviours such as bullying, harassment or violence, continues to be a matter of regulatory concern and the letter provides the latest insight into the FCA’s ongoing attention to NFM.
In its letter, the FCA responded in relation to several key topics, including:
- Enforcement of the Worker Protection Act;
- Use of NDAs in cases of NFM;
- Supervisory actions in relation to NFM; and
- Supervisory cases relating to NFM.
As a reminder, the FCA also noted that it has extended the NFM rules to non-banks, effective from 1 September 2026. However, with the industry watching closely following the FCA’s wider DE&I proposals being paused, the FCA has not yet decided whether to make available any additional interpretation guidance, with a decision is expected by the end of this year.
Enforcement of the Worker Protection Act
The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act (the WP Act), which came into effect in October 2024, introduced a new duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent...
and then 