Raise awareness of the role of access coordinators

URN: SKSAC6
Business Sectors (Suites): Access Coordination for Productions
Developed by: ScreenSkills
Approved on: 2025

Overview

This standard is about raising awareness of the role of access coordinators for productions.  It includes developing a training and awareness plan in accordance with the needs of the production, promoting the benefits of employing a diverse and inclusive workforce and the ways to remove barriers to access following the social model approach.

The standard covers training provision, providing support and advice and ensuring that access policies and processes are embedded within a production.

This standard is for Access coordinators.


Performance criteria

You must be able to:

  1. promote and communicate the benefits of using access coordinators for productions
  2. assess awareness of access requirements among the cast, crew, creatives and contributors
  3. develop an access training plan in accordance with the needs of the production
  4. develop an access awareness plan that complements and supports the training provided
  5. identify production contacts for communication of the access information, promoting compliance and reporting areas requiring improvement
  6. arrange access training, support and advice to cast, crew, creatives and contributors in line with identified actions and the access awareness plan
  7. keep up to date with best practice for access coordinators to continue developing personal expertise

Knowledge and Understanding

You need to know and understand:

  1. the aims, objectives and promotion of the access coordinator role
  2. the structure of the production and its access awareness needs
  3. the culture of the production and the scope of access risks associated with it
  4. the current legal and regulatory requirements and standards that apply to access coordination
  5. the principles of good governance, environmental and social responsibility and ethical practice that apply to access coordination
  6. the concepts of access coordination and access awareness
  7. how access requirements link with production planning, budget setting and creative decision making
  8. how to assess the scope of access awareness
  9. the content of an access awareness plan and how to measure the effectiveness
  10. the importance of embedding access awareness throughout the production and wider creative industries and methods of achieving this
  11. how to communicate the benefits of access across wider creative industries
  12. the types of training, support and advice that can be required and methods that can be used to provide these
  13. the sources of up-to-date information on best practice in meeting access requirements

Scope/range

Access requirements

  1. physical access
  2. environment
  3. lighting
  4. sound
  5. facilities
  6. transport
  7. physical contact
  8. personal space
  9. timeframes
  10. allergies and sensitivities

Resources - access equipment

  1. ramps
  2. adaptive furniture (evac chairs, off-roading chairs, standing desk)
  3. office equipment (different coloured paper, braille printer)
  4. software (text to speech, note taking software, time management software)
  5. adaptive hardware (specialised mouse and keyboard)

Resources - professional support

  1. personal assistants
  2. support workers
  3. creative enablers / collaborators
  4. sign language interpreters (British Sign Language (BSL), American Sign Language (ASL)
  5. lip speakers
  6. BSL monitors
  7. chaperones
  8. intimacy coordinators
  9. wellbeing facilitators
  10. medics
  11. assistance and support animals

Legislation/policies

  1. Equalities Act 2010 (England, Wales, Scotland)
  2. In Northern Ireland
    • Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998
    • Ireland Sex Discrimination Order 1976
    • Disability Discrimination Act 1995
    • Race Relations Order 1997
  3. Relevant industry access funding
  4. Government access funding (Personal Independence Payment, Access To Work)
  5. Reasonable adjustments

Scope Performance


Scope Knowledge


Values


Behaviours


Skills


Glossary

Social model
The social model of disability is a way of viewing the world, developed by disabled people. The model says that people are disabled by barriers in society, not by their impairment or condition. Barriers can be physical, like buildings not having accessible toilets. Or they can be caused by people’s attitudes to difference, like assuming disabled people can’t do certain things. The social model helps us recognise barriers that make life harder for disabled people. Removing these barriers creates equality and offers disabled people more independence, choice and control.”
(Definition provided by Scope UK)
Access Coordinators apply this way of thinking across creative sectors and apply it wider than the term disabled, it is also for people with short and/or long term health conditions, invisible conditions, people who might be pregnant or experiencing menopause and even those that don’t identify as having any condition but find certain tools helpful in their day to day lives. 
Further to this way of thinking, we draw on our own experiences and appreciate the intersectionality in our industry and how that can impact someone’s experience with access. 
 
Access barrier
An access barrier is simply an obstacle of any kind that stops a person from accessing a place or resource. These barriers can be physical, attitudinal or related to information and communication. Some examples might include: no step free access, lack of awareness, not having captions or subtitles available.


Links To Other NOS


External Links


Version Number

1

Indicative Review Date

2027

Validity

Current

Status

Original

Originating Organisation

ScreenSkills

Original URN

SKSAC6

Relevant Occupations

Access Coordinator

SOC Code


Keywords

support; advice; guidance; access; requirements; production; solutions; equipment; cast, crew, creatives and contributors;