How wokery, DEI and the lamentable Regulatory Board led the IFoA to silence discussion of the UK's worst scandal in many decades: grooming gangs

On the WhatsApp group of 90+ senior actuaries set up about 18 months ago because of concerns at the IFoA (Institute and Faculty of Actuaries)'s governance after it postponed elections without giving a proper explanation, I've repeatedly described the IFoA's Regulatory Board's performance as lamentable. I think the only person who has disagreed is someone who happens to be on that board. His/her loyalty to it is perhaps admirable, but the defence of it offered was pretty evidence-free.

Why do I say the Regulatory Board's performance has been lamentable?

Further to my previous article on this, the minutes of the Regulatory Board of the IFoA (Institute and Faculty of Actuaries) are months late (again) for the umpteenth time:

Why are the minutes late? Is it because the Board's pet project (DEI - diversity equity and inclusion) is increasingly unpopular amongst IFoA members?

Diversity is becoming a dirty word for many in the general public

As scandal after scandal gets exposed (e.g. DEI seems to have been a disaster in Los Angeles's recent devastating fires with money diverted from filling up water pumps and repairing fire engines to recruiting woke staff whose only qualification for the job seems to be that "the public want to be rescued by people who look like them" - except that the poster person for this strategy said that if such staff don't appear to be strong enough to save someone's husband then it would be the man's fault for being in the wrong place) diversity (as I told the IFoA over 4 years ago it would) is becoming a dirty word for many in the general public.

He got himself in the wrong place if I have to carry him out of a fire (Diversity head of Los Angeles fire department)

According to this article, as of January?15, 2025, the wildfires have killed at least 25 people, forced over 200,000 to evacuate, and destroyed or damaged more than 12,401 structures.

How many lives and buildings could have been saved if the woke DEI-obsessed LA officials hadn't prioritised "diversity" over fire prevention and saving lives?

Diversity is not "our strength": it has led to mass rape and torture

Diversity has led to tens (hundreds) of thousands of little girls, some as young as 11, being raped and tortured in the most vile ways by grooming gangs in the UK.

Under the Regulatory Board's watch not only has the IFoA tried to silence members from speaking up about this, but it has also turned a blind eye to financial losses by the public. It (Reg Board) also said it was too busy (presumably trying to ram its DEI obsession down the throats of members) to respond about allegations of widespread cheating in IFoA exams.

The Regulatory Board and its subordinate Disciplinary Committee and associated staff cost IFoA members a lot of money: about ￡2.5 million a year.

If I were still on IFoA Council, I would be calling for the Regulatory Board and its offshoots to be disbanded because it has proved itself to be not fit for purpose, and has in my opinion dragged the IFoA (and unfortunately by association its members and other actuaries around the world) into disrepute. When I joined the IFoA over 30 years ago, I never imagined for one minute that it would:

• ignore major financial losses incurred by the public (loyalty penalty and leveraged LDI financial scandals)
• tell actuaries to keep quiet about the biggest criminal scandal in the UK for over a century (child rape torture grooming gangs) and not to criticise religious texts advocating female genital mutilation, child marriage and sexual slavery.

Organisations that failed these little girls will be held accountable

The grooming gang scandal is not going away. The public is rightly demanding accountability from not just police but other officials who failed so many defenceless little girls. From Matthew Goodwin on X:

-73% want national inquiry into rape gangs

-81% want foreign national groomers deported

-74% want dual national groomers deported

-79% say officials who failed should be prosecuted

-of those, 66% say officials should go to prison

-30% back death penalty for groomers + 47% back life sentences. Only 13% want current non-life sentences.

DEI has led the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries a long way from its Royal Charter by dragging it, incredible as this seems, into the massive grooming gangs public scandal and on the wrong side.

DEI and other wokery has a lot to answer for. It has led the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries a long way from its Royal Charter by dragging it, incredible as this seems, into the wrong side of the biggest public scandal in the UK for over a century. The vast majority of its members will be rightly appalled at the astonishing lack of common sense, but also at the moral bankruptcy that the IFoA has displayed in this area.

A fresh start and a return to sanity

Political correctness costs lives.

DEI costs lives.

Professional organisations have no business policing the personal political speech of their members

Professional bodies have no business policing the personal political speech of their members.

Even more so if a professional body (meet the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries) gets involved in a way that (by shutting down much needed discussion) helps the continuation of - rather than the exposure and prevention of - child rape and torture, female genital mutilation, child marriage and sexual slavery.

The new organisation I have set up (the International Qualified Actuaries Group) will not get involved in politics, DEI, wokery, or any similar divisive ideology. It offers a fresh start and a return to sanity.

#actuaries #ifoa #overregulation #dei #wokery #groominggangs #commonsense