Stats

• In the UK, asylum applications (excluding dependents) peaked at 84,100 in 2002 and reached a low point of 17,900 in 2010. After several years of increases, applications dropped by 6% to 30,700 in 2016.
• Asylum applicants and their dependents comprised an estimated 9% of net migration in 2015, down from 44% in 2002.
• In 2016, 68% of initial asylum applications were refused but 42% of appeals against initial refusals were successful.
• Men made up 75% of main applicants for asylum in 2016.
• The UK received about 3% of asylum claims made in EU countries (plus Norway and Switzerland) in 2016, and was the sixth highest recipient of asylum claims.^[1]
• According to the UNHCR, by mid-2015 there were 117,234 refugees, 37,829 pending asylum cases and 16 stateless persons in the UK. That’s less than one quarter of a percent of the UK’s total population (around 0.24%)
• Asylum applications to the UK are relatively low – 32,733 in 2015. Although they have increased a little in recent years, they’re still significantly lower today than the peak of 84,000 applications back in 2002.
• The vast majority of people who seek asylum in the UK have fled countries ravaged by war and human rights abuses. In 2015, the largest number of asylum applications to the UK came from nationals of Eritrea (3,695), Iran (3,242), Sudan (2,912) and Syria (2,539).
• Over 65 million people around the globe have had to flee their homes – that’s like the entire British population having to leave.
• It’s poor countries, not rich, western countries, who look after the vast majority of the world’s refugees. The UN’s Refugee Agency estimates that nearly nine in ten of the world’s refugees are sheltered by developing countries.
• Last year, 172, 362 people arrived in Europe via sea. Just under half were women and children. 3,119 men, women and children have lost their lives during their attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea.
• In September 2015, European countries agreed to relocate 160,000 refugees away from Greece and Italy to help ease the pressure. By September 2017, almost 27,700 refugees had been relocated.
• In 2017, an estimated 668,600 people sought safety in Europe. Britain received 26,350 asylum applications, a 14% decrease since the year before. Britain received less than 3% of all asylum claims made in the EU during last year.
• By the end of 2017 more than 14,600 asylum applications had been waiting for longer than six months for an initial decision on the case. That’s an increase from 8,820 compared with the previous year. In Germany alone, 199,200 asylum applications were made.
• The total backlog in cases pending a decision totalled 28,787.
• In 2017, 27,331 people were imprisoned in immigration detention centres; among them many people seeking asylum. 54% were released back into the community.
• The number of Syrian refugees resettled in the UK now stands at 10,538 since the conflict began.
• In 2017, 813 non-Syrian refugees were resettled in Britain via the Gateway Protection Programme run in conjunction with the UN’s Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Just 1% of the world’s refugees will ever be resettled.^[2]

^[1]Migration to the UK: Asylum – The Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford
^[2]Refugee Council – Top 20 facts about refugees and asylum seekers.

Organisations

Refugee Action has spent 35 years helping refugees build safe, hopeful and productive new lives in the UK.

In Place of War has worked with creative communities in some of the most challenging contexts in the world. It is a support system for community artistic, creative and cultural organisations in places of conflict, revolution and areas suffering the consequences of conflict.

Regional Refugee Forum North East is the independent membership organisation created by and for the North East region’s Refugee-led Community Organisations (RCOs), enabling them to unite and produce their Collective Voice and empowering them to be active agents in change.

Women for Refugee Women challenges the injustices experienced by women who seek asylum in the UK.

The Refugee Council is one of the leading charities in the UK working directly with refugees, and supporting them to rebuild their lives.

University of East London – Directory of Services & Organisations for Refugees, Asylum Seekers & Migrants

Stats

• There are 11 million people with hearing loss across the UK, that’s around one in six of us.
• There are 50,000 children with hearing loss in the UK. Around half are born with hearing loss while the other half lose their hearing during childhood.
• An estimated 900,000 people in the UK have severe or profound hearing loss.
• It is estimated that there are at least 24,000 people across the UK who use British Sign Language (BSL) as their main language (although there are likely to be more that we don’t know about).
• Hearing loss can lead to withdrawal from social situations, emotional distress, and depression. Research shows that it increases the risk of loneliness, but only for those who don’t wear hearing aids.
• Hearing loss can increase the risk of dementia by up to five times, but evidence also suggests that hearing aids may reduce these risks.^[1]
• 70% of people with hearing loss who responded to a survey said that hearing loss sometimes prevented them from fulfilling their potential at work.^[2]
• 35% of business leaders surveyed in a YouGov poll don’t feel confident about employing a person with hearing loss.^[3]
• Nine out of ten respondents said background noise was the biggest problem they face when eating out.^[4]
• 87% people with hearing loss have started to watch a programme on-demand and found that it had no subtitles.^[5]
• Less than 10% of respondents rated the provisions at their local cinema as good or excellent.
• 5% of respondents said they would visit the cinema more frequently if provisions were improved.
• 91% of respondents found the number of subtitled screenings in their area inadequate.
• 61% of respondents felt the staff at their local cinema were not aware of their needs.
• 64% of respondents felt the marketing of these provisions at their local cinema was inadequate or inconsistent.^[6]

^[1] Action on Hearing Loss, Facts and Figures 2018
^[2] Action on Hearing Loss, Hidden Disadvantage report
^[3] Action on Hearing Loss, Working for Change report
^[4] Action on Hearing Loss, Speak Easy survey
^[5] Action on Hearing Loss, Progress on Pause report
^[6] Independent Cinema Office, Developing Deaf Audiences in Your Cinema

Organisations

Action on Hearing Loss supports and helps people experiencing hearing loss, so they can take back control and live the live they choose.

BDA is the UK’s leading membership organisation and registered charity run by Deaf people for Deaf people. The BDA delivers a range of services to achieve its aims of empowering Deaf people to overcome difficulties that they face on a daily basis.

National Deaf Children’s Society is the leading charity dedicated to creating a world without barriers for deaf children and young people.

Sense is a national disability charity that supports people with complex communication needs, including those who are deafblind, to be understood, connected and valued.

Deafblind UK supports people with combined sight and hearing loss to live the lives they want.

Stats

• There are over 11 million people with a limiting long term illness, impairment or disability.
• The most commonly-reported impairments are those that affect mobility, lifting or carrying.^[1]
• There are 13.9 million disabled people in the UK. 8 per cent of children are disabled, 19 per cent of working age adults are disabled, 45 per cent of pension age adults are disabled.^[2]
• After housing costs, the proportion of working age disabled people living in poverty (28 per cent) is higher than the proportion of working age non-disabled people (18 per cent).^[3]
• Life costs you £570 more on average a month if you’re disabled.^[4]
• Over a quarter of disabled people say that they do not frequently have choice and control over their daily lives.^[5]
• Around a third of disabled people experience difficulties related to their impairment in accessing public, commercial and leisure goods and services.^[6]
• The spending power of families with at least one disabled person is estimated by the Government to be over £200 billion a year.^[7]
• Disabled audiences are over-represented amongst video buyers.^[8]

^[1] ONS Opinions Survey 2011
^[2] Family Resources Survey 2016/17
^[3] Households Below Average Income, 2015-16
^[4] Scope: The disability price tag
^[5] ONS Opinions Survey 2011
^[6] ONS Opinions Survey 2010
^[7] Department for Work and Pensions
^[8] BFI Audiences Research and Statistics 2015

Organisations

Scope exists to make this country a place where disabled people have the same opportunities as everyone else.
Disability Rights UK want a society where everyone can participate equally.

Centre for Accessible Environments (CAE) provides consultancy, training, research and publications on building design and management to meet all user needs, including disabled and older people.

Mind provides advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem.

Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is the UK’s leading charity supporting blind and partially sighted people.

Action on Hearing Loss supports and helps people experiencing hearing loss, so they can take back control and live the live they choose.

Contact supports families with the best possible guidance and information. They bring families together to support each other, and help families to campaign, volunteer and fundraise to improve life for themselves and others.

Disability Arts has an extensive database of cinema and arts organisations

Sensory Trust also has a useful list

Stats

• Almost eight in 10 companies and public-sector bodies pay men more than women^[1]
• 8 million women were working full-time and 6.3 million were working part-time. 42% of women in employment were working part-time compared to 13% of men.^[2]
• The gender mix in UK film casts has not improved since the end of the Second World War.
• In crews the gender mix has improved, but in some departments women still make up less than 10 per cent of senior roles.
• Female actors have tended to make fewer films and have had shorter careers than male actors.
• Unnamed characters who work in high-skilled occupations (e.g. doctor) are much more likely to be portrayed by men than women.
• Films that have one woman in a senior writing or directing role contain relatively more women in their casts.^[3]
• The peak for female representation in film (when women made up 41% of casts) was over 100 years ago, in 1917.^[4]
• In the 100 highest grossing live-action films in the US for the years 2014, -16, Google showed that men were seen and heard almost twice as often as women, with women occupying just 36% of screen time and 35% of speaking time.^[5]
• Since 2005 only 16% of unnamed doctors in UK films have been played by women, despite women now comprising 52% of doctors on the UK’s General Practitioners Register.^[6]
• In film schools, numbers are generally 50:50 men to women, there are equal opportunities and equal training. Women make up 50 per cent of all short films entered into festivals (according to Directors UK) but they seem to drop out, or are pushed out of filmmaking, later in their careers.
• In 2009, 19 per cent of all UK films had no women in any of the six key roles – director, writer, producer, exec-producer, cinematographer or editor.^[7]

^[1] Gender pay gap figures reveal eight in 10 UK firms pay men more, The Guardian 2018
^[2] Women and the Economy, House of Commons Briefing Paper, 2018
^[3] Women in film: what does the data say?, Nesta 2017
^[4] The gender imbalance in UK film casts, Nesta 2017
^[5] Google, in collaboration with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media
^[6] #PressForProgress: Evidencing gender inequality in the arts, Nesta 2017
^[7] Calling the Shots, University of Southampton 2018

Organisations

Women in Film & Television UK is the leading membership organisation for women working in creative media in the UK and part of an international network of over 13,000 women.

Bird’s Eye View is a year round agency that campaigns for gender equality in film Now in its 15th year, BEV spotlights and celebrates films created by women, and supports women working in film through training and events.

Calling the Shots: Women and Contemporary Film Culture in the UK, 2000-2015 is a large Arts and Humanities Research Council funded (£589,710) four-year project researching and writing the contemporary history of women working in the UK film industry.

Club des Femmes is a queer feminist collective. They curate film screenings and events. Their mission is to offer a freed up space for the re-examination of ideas through art.

Stats

• In the UK, 87% of people are White, and 13% belong to a Black, Asian, Mixed or Other ethnic group.
• Asian people, at 59%, were significantly less likely to take part in the arts than White people (including White ethnic minorities), at 78%, or Black people, at 70%^[1]
• Black people are three times as likely to be arrested as white people
• People of white British and Indian backgrounds are more likely than other minorities to be homeowners
• Among poorer children, those of BME backgrounds have higher attainment levels than white pupils^[2]
• Only 1 in 16 of current FTSE 100 board members is from a Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) background.
• 1 in 8 employees in the UK are from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups.^[3]
• Diverse audiences tend to be heavier film consumers compared to the national average, especially Eastern Europeans (31% are “heavy” film consumers compared to 12% for the national average)
• Asian, Black, Eastern European and LGB audiences attend the cinema much more frequently than the national average (all over 30% for “very regular” compared to 14% for the national average)
• These audiences also have an above-average affinity for cinema, with over 1 in 2 Black, Eastern European and LGB audiences saying cinema remains the best place to watch film – even higher (3 in 5) for the Asian audience
• 7 in 10 of the general public say it is important for some films to portray real life issues facing our communities – our diverse audiences tend to think this even more important (e.g. 88% of the Black audience)
• Diverse audiences are also more likely to think it important that they can see stories, characters and settings to which they can personally relate – for example, 65% of the working class audience say it is important to see their own stories authentically reflected in the films they watch
• 67% of the general public say the portrayal of our nation’s diverse audiences has become more authentic over the last ten years – and this view is largely shared by diverse audiences
• However, when asked about the amount of work needed to be more authentic: 19% of the general public perceived “a great deal” more work needs to be done, comparing to 43% for the Asian audience and 58% of the Black audience
• The following are the proportions from diverse audiences who say they would watch more films if people from diverse backgrounds were portrayed more authentically: 59% of the Asian audience, 66% of the Black audience, 54% of the Eastern European audience^[4]

^[1]Ethnicity Facts & Figures, GOV.UK
^[2]The Guardian, Huge effect of ethnicity on life chances revealed in official UK figures
^[3]Diversity in the UK
^[4]Portrayal V Betrayal: an investigation of diverse and mainstream UK film audiences, 2011

Organisations

Diversity UK is a think tank to research, advocate and promote new ideas for improving diversity and inclusion in Britain. 

UK-BAME represents the diverse collective interests of the UK’s Black, Asians and Minority Ethnic communities who expressed interest or require assistance in developing businesses, community groups, lifestyles, and careers.

Refugee Action has spent 35 years helping refugees build safe, hopeful and productive new lives in the UK.

The British Blacklist offers reviews, news and social analysis striving to bring a voice to burgeoning talent, which rarely receive any visibility. Featuring an extensive database of African Caribbean British creative talent with a strong features-driven core.

The New Black Film Collective is network of film exhibitors, educators and programmers spread across the regions in the UK. As part of our range of services, we host screenings that matter to the local community featuring international and domestic films of black representation. 

Come the Revolution is a collective of curators, programmers and creatives from Bristol & Birmingham committed to exploring and challenging black life, experience and cultural expression through cinema.

We Are Parable believe in the power of events. They want to make events that leave a legacy and produce memories that last.

Birmingham Indian Film Festival – BIFF – brings you the best new Indian & South Asian independent cinema, with a rare window into a billion South Asian lives.

Gentle/Radical is a grassroots cultural organisation and platform for radical thinking, creative practice and social change.

In Place of War has worked with creative communities in some of the most challenging context in the world. In Place of War is a support system for community artistic, creative and cultural organisations in places of conflict, revolution and areas suffering the consequences of conflict.

Afrika Eye Film Festival, held annually in Bristol, is the South West’s biggest celebration of African cinema and culture. Our Festival brings films and diverse perspectives on Africa and the African diaspora to growing audiences in Bristol and the South West.

Desi Blitz is a digital magazine based in Birmingham, England. It’s the leading online magazine for British Asian communities in the UK.

Stats

Stonewall, as the leading organisation advocating for LGBT+ rights in the UK, says it is a reasonable estimate that there are between 5-7% people in the UK who are LGBT+.

Some further interesting statistics:

• One in five LGBT people have experienced a hate crime or incident because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity in the last 12 months
• Two in five trans people have experienced a hate crime or incident because of their gender identity in the last 12 months^[1]
• Nearly half (42 per cent) of trans people are not living permanently in their preferred gender role stated they are prevented from doing so because they fear it might threaten their employment status^[2]
• Nearly half (45 per cent) of LGBT pupils – including 64 per cent of trans pupils – are bullied for being LGBT in Britain’s schools. This is down from 55 per cent of lesbian, gay and bi pupils who experienced bullying because of their sexual orientation in 2012 and 65 per cent in 2007^[3]
• A quarter of the world’s population believes that being LGBT should be a crime^[4]
• 1 in 3 homeless youth are LGBT^[5]
• LGBT people are more likely to be substance dependent^[6]
• LGBT people are more likely to face mental health challenges such as depression and anxiety^[7]

^[1]Stonewall: The Gay British Crime Survey (2013) and LGBT in Britain – Hate Crime (2017)
^[2]Stonewall: Gay in Britain (2013) and Engendered Penalities (2007)
^[3]Stonewall: The School Report (2017) and The RaRE Research Report (2015)
^[4]Stonewall: Stonewall’s International Work and ILGA World (2016).
^[5]Crisis, 2005
^[6]University of Central Lancashire, 2014
^[7]King et al 2008

Organisations

Stonewall works for acceptance without exception for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

LGBT Foundation is a national charity delivering advice, support and information services to lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) communities.

See the downloads for a detailed list of organisations.

Not only is cinema one of the most accessible forms of experience for audiences on a tight budget, but it’s also a form that straddles the arts, entertainment and leisure categories.

That means that cinema is best placed to be a gateway for people seeking experiences to improve their quality of life, and looking for transformative and positive social interactions.

The law and our definition

Besides that, cinemas have a moral and legal (Equality Act 2010) obligation as public venues to be accessible to all types of audience, and to make suitable changes to their programme and environment to accommodate audiences that may be marginalised by disability, minority or a mixture of traits that could see them feeling alienated from the cinema experience. To this end, we seek to increase diversity throughout the Film Audience Network.

Our definition of diversity is to recognise and acknowledge the quality and value of difference. Our focus is on disability, gender, race, age and sexual orientation (as they pertain to the Equality Act 2010), because there continues to be significant under-representation in these areas. We also seek to ensure that people from lower socio-economic groups are better represented.

Statistics

There are some compelling statistics to clarify why cinemas should be supported to be inclusive in their approach to audiences, and to provide accessible screenings:

• The UK is among the worst performing EU states on improvements to gender equality, and hasn’t improved in 10 years.
• One in five LGBT people have experienced a hate crime or incident because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity in the last 12 months.
• Nearly half (42 per cent) of trans people are not living permanently in their preferred gender role stated they are prevented from doing so because they fear it might threaten their employment status.
• Today, 30% of children in the UK are living in poverty.
• There are over 11 million people in the UK with a limiting long term illness, impairment or disability. Life costs you £570 more on average a month if you’re disabled.
• It is estimated that 1 in 6 people in the past week experienced a common mental health problem and major depression is thought to be the second leading cause of disability worldwide and a major contributor to the burden of suicide and ischemic heart disease.
• There are around 700,000 people on the autism spectrum in the UK – that’s more than 1 in 100. If you include their families, autism is a part of daily life for 2.8 million people. 70% of autistic adults said that with more support they would feel less isolated.
• There are 850,000 people living with dementia across the UK, and this is set to rise to over 2 million by 2051. 34% of these people don’t feel part of their community and 61% felt anxious or depressed recently.
• Almost half of blind and partially sighted people feel ‘moderately’ or ‘completely’ cut off from people and things around them.
• 34% of respondents with hearing loss said they were dissatisfied with the accessibility of cinemas. Less than 1% of cinema showtimes are accessible via captions in the UK. 83% of people with hearing loss said they would attend cinema regularly if a nearby cinema had captioned shows at convenient times.

Intersections

Where a person has protected characteristics that might place them in a minority group, they are also likely to be affected by other factors that increase their diversity and need for even greater measures by providers to ensure inclusion:

• Between 44% – 52% of autistic people may have a learning disability.
• At least one in three autistic adults are experiencing severe mental health difficulties due to a lack of support.
• People from black and minority ethnic communities are at greater risk of some of the leading causes of sight loss.
• Older people with sight loss are almost three times more likely to experience depression than people with good vision.

The benefits

Inclusive Cinema provides a slice of normal life for audiences with disabilities, and their companions, who may find social and physical barriers when they usually visit cinemas. Simple, practical changes can make a world of difference in bringing film to a wider audience.

Diversifying audiences isn’t just about being fair, and legally appropriate however. There is a real economic value in expanding the capabilities of cinema spaces to bring in audiences from all backgrounds and with a range of requirements. Audience portfolios that are diverse result in more robust organisations, that can handle changes in economic climate, and cultural trends.

As an example, the “purple pound” is the potential spend from over 11 million people with a limiting long term illness, impairment or disability, and is reckoned to be worth around £249bn, as you can see in this BBC video.