Access Audits
Access improvements to community buildings
This funding programme closed to new applications on Tuesday, 8 October 2024
Grant details
- Area: Greater London
- Open to: New, existing and previous applicants
- Deadline: No longer open to new applications
- Funding length: Usually up to one year
- Funding size: Grants of up to £5,000 towards the cost of an independent Access Audit and associated training
- Average award: Based on grants made to date, we have awarded between £1,000 and £5,000, the average award size has been £3,500*
*These figures are illustrative and we will award more or less than these amounts depending on the applications we receive. You can find out more about our approach to funding here.
Funding closed to new applications
Having committed exceptional levels of funding to London’s charitable sector until 2026, we closed our rolling grants programmes to new applications on Tuesday, 8 October 2024 for one year. This will allow us to manage our existing grants and pre-closure applications, while reviewing and developing our new funding policy, launching in autumn 2025.
Funding closed to new applicationsThis following text is archived and no longer represents an active funding programme
Independent Access Audits give authoritative guidance on how to improve a building’s accessibility. They are free and available to all eligible organisations wherever the building is owned or with a lease over five years.
If you hold an Access Audit, whether by one of our approved consultants or an accredited third party, you can apply for funds to carry out the building work it recommends through our capital funding grant (further details at the bottom of this page). Applications for our capital funding grants must be received before noon on Tuesday, 8 October 2024.
All of our rolling grants programmes closed to new applications on Tuesday, 8 October 2024 for one year.
An Access Audit can also fund design appraisals of existing plans and disability awareness training for your staff and volunteers.
Access Audits
Independent Access Audits give authoritative guidance on how to improve a building’s accessibility. They are free and available to all eligible organisations wherever the building is owned or with a lease over five years.
Once you have an Access Audit, whether by one of our approved consultants or an accredited third party, you can apply for funds to carry out the building work it recommends through our capital funding grant (further details at the bottom of this page).
An Access Audit can also fund design appraisals of existing plans and disability awareness training for your staff and volunteers.
Who will we fund?
To qualify for a grant, applicants must be based within Greater London and must be one of the following:
- registered charity
- community interest company limited by guarantee
- registered charitable incorporated organisation
- charitable company
- excepted charities
- registered charitable industrial and provident society or charitable BenCom
While we cannot fund Access Audits for buildings exclusively used to advance the promotion of any specific religion, we can support audits of religious centres when they serve the wider community. For example, we could fund an Access Audit for a church hall, mosque or temple that can prove it provides inclusive services that are open to people of all faiths.
Before applying
To apply for an Access Audit online you’ll need to confirm:
that your building and its activities benefit the wider community and do not exclusively advance the promotion of any of specific religion
the building is owned by your organisation or has a lease of over five years
you have a written quotation from an Access Auditor registered with the National Register of Access Consultants or our partner the Centre for Accessible Environments
If you are considering an audit we recommend contacting the Access and Sustainability Adviser that we fund at the Centre for Accessible Environments for free advice and guidance on the process. Telephone 020 7822 8242 or email asas@cae.org.uk.
All of our rolling grants programmes, including our capital funding for access improvements, closed to new applications on Tuesday, 8 October 2024 for one year.
Following an independent Access Audit, we can consider applications for capital funding of up to £150,000 towards access improvements.
This work can also be combined with building improvements identified through an Eco Audit to reduce carbon, improve resource use, and enhance biodiversity.
To apply for capital funding you must be able to provide evidence that an independent Access Audit has been conducted. While we fund these independent Access Audits, if you already have an audit from a third-party, approved consultant you can apply to us for capital funding to carry out its recommendations.
To qualify for an Access Audit the minimum length of lease on your building must be 5 years. To qualify for capital funding to make access improvements the lease length must be 10 years or more.