Home > About us > Equal Opportunity Policy Statement

As the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations we develop relationships with people from a wide range of backgrounds.  Engaging positively with the richness of this diversity is central to what we do and in line with our core values.

Our Equal Opportunity Policy originates from the United Kingdom (UK) because the British Council is an organisation with origins and headquarters in the UK.  The Policy applies in the UK and elsewhere where the British Council operates wherever local conditions allow.  Where practices and legislation are more developed and extensive we meet local requirements.  Notwithstanding this, all staff, as an organisation wide behavioural standard, irrespective of their work base, are required to ensure their behaviour demonstrates respect for the fundamental human right of every person not to be unjustifiably discriminated against on grounds of perceived difference within the terms of this policy.  The policy also applies to third parties that work with us such as clients, customers and suppliers.

We are committed to equality of opportunity and inclusion, and to positive action to promote this. We believe that an Equal Opportunity Policy helps to ensure that there is no unjustified discrimination in the recruitment, retention, training and development of staff on the basis of gender including transgender, marital status (which includes civil partnerships), sexual orientation, religion and belief, political opinion, ethnicity/race, work pattern, age, disability or HIV/AIDS status, socio-economic background, spent convictions, trade union activity or membership, on the basis of having or not having dependants, or any other irrelevant grounds.  We also believe that an Equal Opportunity Policy benefits employees and potential employees, partners, clients and customers and helps achieve dignity at work, as well as contributing to providing the best possible services to all stakeholders.

We progress our Equal Opportunity Policy through our Diversity Strategy and through a commitment to mainstreaming equality and diversity principles and practices and monitoring our progress.

We have developed our Integrated Equality Scheme to help us promote equality and eliminate discrimination in the areas of gender, race and disability. Find out how we are applying this scheme worldwide http://www.britishcouncil.org/home-diversity-what-we-do.htm