Pros
- Work from home (WFH)
- Flexible working hours
- Good pension (with optional salary sacrifice)
- Private Medical Insurance / Healthcare Cash Plan
- Pay reflects London banding no matter where you are based (although this is never stipulated anywhere or include in formal contracts)
Cons
Work from Home / Office & Travel Costs
The organisation is rolling back WFH despite downsizing to smaller offices in a less convenient location (Canary Wharf). Staff are now required to attend the office at least once a month. However, this fails to account for the fact that employees are hired nationally. Those living in places such as Scotland, Wales or Cornwall face disproportionate travel and accommodation costs, which are not reimbursed, unlike the expenses paid for external contractors travelling from afar (more than 2.5 hours). This means that some staff are being asked to put their hands in their own pockets to the tune of thousands of pounds per year to attend the office (which was not stipulated as a requirement at any point during the hiring process) whilst other colleagues simply pay a day's tube fare. This policy is unfair, discriminatory, and was never made clear at the hiring stage.
Penny Pinching
Spending priorities are inconsistent and poorly managed. Large sums are wasted on ill-conceived projects that are abandoned mid-way, while essential upgrades to systems, software, and CRM tools are neglected. There is a complete misunderstanding of the normal costs of doing business, with leadership seemingly unaware of how their decisions impact efficiency, staff morale, and long-term financial sustainability. This inefficiency undermines both staff effectiveness and the organisation’s regulatory role. Registrants should be up in arms because their fees are spent so poorly!
Progression & HR
Career development opportunities are minimal, and HR (rebranded disingenuously as “People & Culture”) provides no meaningful learning or training support. Staff are discouraged from pursuing professional development, leaving them demoralised and stagnant. HR processes are slow, inconsistent, and often ignored entirely. HR fail to follow their own policies, which are already below industry standard. In some cases, HR even prejudges grievances, discouraging staff from raising legitimate concerns. Their idea of fulfilling their employer’s duty of care is to remove it by getting rid of the staff member! HR is adversarial rather than supportive. HR are absolutely out to get staff; beware!
Benefits
While the pension and healthcare plans are strong, other benefits are inadequate. The cycle-to-work scheme is impractical for those outside London, and the Perkbox scheme is not only of little use but also treated as a taxable benefit in kind, effectively costing employees rather than rewarding them.
Recognition
The monthly CEO achievement awards are pathetic and infantilizing. ‘Recognising people’ with a piece of paper for doing the basics of their job is very odd and patronising. It shows how little actual work is done by those who should be rolling up their sleeves.
General culture and attitude
The oddest and most dysfunctional culture I have ever had the displeasure of experiencing. As other reviews have noted, everything moves at either an absolute snail's pace (not least because some staff members are overloaded whilst others are twiddling their thumbs) or rushed and not thought through, which damages morale, the organisation’s reputation, and the quality of work produced. The goalposts change constantly and there is no proper institutional memory or record of decisions which have been made (and on what advice/legal ground).
There are too many authorisation steps, creating layers of ‘organisational treacle’ that slow down even the simplest of decisions. Meetings are frequent but ineffective, often more about appearances than outcomes. The bureaucracy stifles initiative and delays progress, contributing to an already sluggish and confused working culture.
There is a toxic blame culture, where responsibility is constantly deflected, and mistakes are met with scapegoating rather than learning. It's culture so defensive it treats honesty as betrayal — speak the truth and they will push you out.
At senior levels, leadership is dismissive and disrespectful, contributing to low morale. The CEO is patronising. New ideas and improvement proposals are stifled by endless, repetitive “consultations” that serve only to delay progress and appease those resistant to work.
There is also a complete lack of staff management and transparency. Favouritism is widespread: some staff are shielded from accountability despite years of underperformance, while others are micromanaged, overburdened, and bludgeoned to accept total accountability for other’s actions. Constructive feedback and coaching are discouraged, meaning poor performers face no consequences while capable staff are demoralised. There is a complete cultural taboo against providing real feedback or having difficult coaching conversations. To be a good, supportive manager you have to be able to give honest and direct feedback, otherwise you are setting your staff up for failure. But this is actively discouraged, and staff can get away with having tantrums and going over the head of their manager if something doesn’t immediately go their way. Managers are undermined, unable to address issues directly, and expected to cover for weaker colleagues.