One of Aviva's most senior female executives has quit the business while on maternity leave.

Chief people officer Sarah Morris went on maternity leave in July last year and at the time said she fully intended to return. However over the weekend Ms Morris announced she was "handing over the baton".

She said: "After nearly four years being a member of the executive team and leading Aviva's people function, I am handing over the baton of chief people officer to pursue the next challenge in my career."

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A spokesman for Aviva said: "Diversity and inclusion in the workplace is fundamental to Aviva, in all its forms and across all levels of the organisation."

The news came as part of a reshuffle at Aviva as a whole, which saw it's chief financial officer Tom Stoddard step down last week and the announcement of 1,800 redundancies across the insurer.