The report will gather data on employers’ leadership diversity and inclusion (D&I) policies across the top 500 companies (in terms of turnover) and public sector institutions. 

It will cover ethnicity, gender, age, nationality, mental health, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, disability, religion and parenthood.

Organisations have been invited to take part in a survey which asks them about their representation at senior levels and D&I policies.

Data will be used to create a set of benchmarks, measured annually, with the report set to be published in October as the McKenzie-Delis Packer Review.

Leila McKenzie Delis, chief executive of DIAL Global, said: "The current crisis and subsequent recovery will mark a new era for organisations. We cannot falter in our shared mission to foster D&I and ensure the painstaking progress that we have collectively achieved is not reversed. Chief executives, leaders and their respective organisations must seize this opportunity to place D&I at the forefront of their recovery, as a powerful enabler of innovation, positive workplace culture and financial performance."

McKenzie Delis added that the report will serve as a "blueprint of D&I" and a "diagnostic tool" to guide organisations’ internal efforts. 

Ipsos Mori will also work with Stonewall, the Parker Review, the Centre for Ageing Better, the Hampton-Alexander Review, Minds at Work and the Business Disability Forum on the research.

Ben Page, chief executive of Ipsos Mori, said: "Progress in making the senior ranks of major institutions more representative of the country they serve is glacially slow. Ipsos Mori believes that it can help play its part with its partners in measuring progress, to help us all have informed conversations about what sort of country we want to be."