Equal opportunities

Access for everyone

We aim for maximum access for everyone.  This means trying to remove all barriers which may prevent members of the community becoming involved.  Barriers may be physical or may exist in the way an organisation and its activities are run.

Please see our Equalities information page for information and to download our Gender and Disability Equality Schemes and Action Plans.

Impact on funding applications

We need to assess how you will make sure that all your activities are open to everyone and we will expect you to have adopted and implemented a formal equal opportunities policy.  We will ask you to enclose a copy of your equal opportunities policy and describe how equal opportunities principles will be applied and followed throughout your project.

Your equal opportunities policy should set out how you plan to provide equal access to:

• employment opportunities
• participation in all your activities
• publicity and marketing formats
• decision-making processes
• all members of your audience and
• work from different cultures 

You will also need to demonstrate in your application that you have thought about how people with disabilities of all kinds, including mobility, sight, hearing and learning difficulties will be able to gain access to your project, including ensuring that all venues you use for activities are fully accessible to disabled people.

If you do not have a formal equal opportunities policy, we ask that you demonstrate the above in detail within your application.

In any event, you must ensure that your activities are compliant with relevant legislation. 

Further information on equal opportunities: Equality and Human Rights Commission