Equity, Diversity and Inclusion policy and action plan
Our commitments
Our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion policy and action plan sets out in detail our approach – it recognises our own influence and power (and its limitations), not only in relation to the organisation itself but also our social investment and delivery partners, the charities and social enterprises they work with and the communities they serve. It builds on the work we have done to date and the work of our partners across the social investment ecosystem.
As a national wholesaler of funding into the social investment market we have a leadership role to play in championing and realising a truly equitable, diverse and inclusive social investment sector. We think that this leadership role means being open about what we want to achieve and how we will achieve it, inviting feedback and learning as we go, sharing what is working and what is not.
In addition to a more detailed action plan for internal purposes, we have developed the below 10 priority commitments to ensure we are transparent and accountable. We have now achieved the majority of these commitments, and will be setting new EDI commitments in 2025 so that we continue to make progress.
It is worth noting that green doesn’t mean ‘done’ and red isn’t necessarily a cause for alarm – we have plans in place to address each measure and have set a direction of travel but are using the traffic light rating to rate where we have made tangible progress.
2025 update
In October 2025, the Board approved our refreshed Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) action plan, which includes commitments across three dimensions:
1) Our accountability and influence across the ecosystem, actions include:
- Continuing to more clearly and transparently communicate our role, actions and learning.
- Encourage and support delivery partnerships which address lack of access to finance among a wider range of organisations led by people with different protected characteristics, including disability.
2) How we support and hold our partners accountable, actions include:
- Specific requirements and KPIs to be established with partners through the application process. • Support for partners to measure their own diversity.
- Fund sector-wide infrastructure which can build partner capabilities, share learning, insight and best practice in expanding their reach, and drive their own organisational diversity.
3) Access’s own diversity and culture, actions include:
- Continuing work to enhance our internal culture.
- Seeking greater diversity on our board and in our decision-making bodies through further recruitment.
More here on the updated actions for 2025 - 2026. We will update on progress against these actions later in the year.
Our organisation
| Action | Who responsible | When will it be done | Current status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Publishing our approach to equity, diversity and inclusion being open and transparent about progress made and reviewing and addressing gaps in our knowledge, systems and processes. | Board | Each year | Green |
| 2. Undertaking an independent diversity audit looking at the make up the Access board, staff team and relevant committees, identifying areas for development and the actions needed to address this. | Staff team | Each year | Green |
| 3. Being transparent about our gender and ethnicity pay gap data in order to identify inequalities and address any disparities. | Board | Each year | Green |
| 4. Reviewing our recruitment and induction processes for board, committees and staff team to ensure we are as inclusive as possible. | Staff team | Each year | Amber |
| 5. Reflecting on and addressing feedback including from staff members through our staff survey and from partners via our complaints process. | Board/Staff team | Each year | Amber |
| 6. Looking closely at how we invest our money to see how this supports our ED&I objectives, in particular in relation to the management of our endowment and the way in which our endowment may evolve in future. | Endowment Investment Committee | Each year | Green |
Our delivery partners
| Action | Who responsible | When will it be done | Current status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7. Publicly reporting against our aspiration for our programmes to reach charities and social enterprises whose leadership is representative of the most deprived 30% areas in England (IMD 1-3). | Staff team | Each quarter | Green |
| 8. Working alongside key delivery partners supporting their plans to address equity, diversity and inclusion, including sharing relevant action plans and data with Access and the wider sector as appropriate. | Staff team | Ongoing | Amber |
Our work to support the wider social investment market
| Action | Who responsible | When will it be done | Current status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9. Continuing to champion and fund sector wide initiatives that will drive change in relation to equity, diversity and inclusion. This includes the work we support via the Connect Fund and as an active member of the Diversity Forum. | Staff team | Ongoing | Green |
| 10. Encouraging our wider stakeholders from across the social investment market to undertake their own diversity audits to address the disconnect between the socioeconomic backgrounds of decision makers and those seeking funding by sharing best practice and supporting sector-wide efforts to aggregate diversity data. | Staff team | Ongoing | Amber |