The British Council creates international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and builds trust between them worldwide. Working effectively with diversity is an essential part of the British Council’s work. We are committed to ensuring that there is no unjustified discrimination in the recruitment, retention, training and development of staff on the basis of age, disability, gender including transgender, HIV/AIDS status, marital status including civil partnerships, pregnancy and maternity, political opinion, race/ethnicity, religion and belief, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, spent convictions, trade union activity or membership, work pattern and on the basis of having or not having dependents or any non-relevant grounds.
We aim to abide by and promote equality legislation by following both the letter and the spirit to try to avoid unjustified discrimination, recognising that discrimination is a barrier to equality of opportunity, inclusion and human rights. All staff are required to ensure their behaviour is consistent with this policy. We also require that clients, customers, partners and suppliers are aware of this policy and operate consistently with it.
The British Council is committed to:
- understanding, valuing and working with diversity to enable fair and full participation in our work
- ensuring that there is no unjustified discrimination in our recruitment, selection and other processes
- ensuring action that promotes equality of opportunity, including conducting equality screening and impact assessments of policies and functions and progressing diversity action plans
- treating individuals with whom we work fairly and with dignity and respect playing our part in removing barriers and redressing imbalances caused by inequality and discrimination.
We will provide adequate and appropriate resources to implement this policy and will ensure it is communicated and understood.
The British Council will review this global policy statement annually to reflect new legal and regulatory developments and promote good practice.
Disability Free Place Policy
Free places
The British Council is committed to the development and learning of people with disabilities for free places. As such, we are happy to provide up to 5 free places on English courses for ther development. These 5 free places comprise of a maximum of 3 adults learners and 2 young learners (between 11-16 years old) for a maximum of 3 terms per person / 1 CEFR level.
Process for Free Place
2-3 weeks before the term start date of courses, the Customer Services Manager (CSM) and the EDI lead will invite disability organisations to nominate people with disabilities for free places. As well as this, the CSM will put notices and inform our existing students of the availability of this offer and liaise with local Communication team who will post this opportunity on our British Council Facebook page and website using the branded EDI imagery These will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis according to:
1. Calls or emails received from applicant or organisation
2. Letter/email asking for a free place
3. CS member confirming that the applicant has a disability and getting them to complete the disability form.
If more than 5 people apply, they will be placed on a waiting list and will be prioritised once a free place is available.