Cloudesley is a charitable trust that gives grants to local people, organisations and churches in Islington, London, with the aim of providing significant positive impact on people’s lives.
The Church Access Project was a project that Cloudesley set up in partnership with Islington Deanery and the Diocese of London. The project’s aims were to raise awareness of accessibility, its scope and its importance, and to support Islington churches to become more accessible.
As part of the project, Cloudesley hired the Centre for Accessible Environments (CAE) to carry out a series of accessibility audits on eligible churches to understand how they could become more inclusive so that more people can enjoy and use their spaces and access their services.
Catherine Sorrell, Grants Manager at Cloudesley, said: “Cloudesley is aligned with the Social Model of Disability. As such, we view improving access as a societal issue, not just something that only benefits a minority of people. We felt it was therefore important to support churches with the information and funding required to improve the accessibility of their buildings, improving the experience of current and future disabled building users.”
A blue sign showing an icon for a hearing loop with a church nave in the background.
Improving access for all
CAE carried out access audits on a total of 22 eligible Church of England churches in the London borough of Islington from July 2023 to June 2025.
Following CAE’s audits, the majority of the churches carried out a series of recommendations. They included:
- new audio-visual systems
- acoustic baffles (hanging panels used to control sound in large open spaces where wall panels aren’t suitable)
- access improvements to toilets and entrances, including ramps and handrails.
- chairs with armrests.
The audited churches were able to access non-competitive grants of up to £10,000 from Cloudesley Church Access Fund to progress audit recommendations. Accessibility work was also eligible through Cloudesley’s Main Church Grants Programme, which has funded larger projects such as the construction of access ramps. The Cloudesley website has a full list of grants.
Positive feedback
Feedback from churches that have undertaken accessibility improvements using the Church Access Fund has been positive, according to Ms. Sorrell. “In many cases, the churches have found that the access works have improved the experience for a wide range of building users, not just disabled users,” Ms. Sorrell said.
At St James Clerkenwell, the addition of a temporary ramp meant that several people with mobility requirements found it far easier to gain entry to the building, with one congregation member returning to services after several months of not coming. “We had tourists who are wheelchair users come into the church building to look around, which would have been impossible prior to the installation of the ramp,” Ms. Sorrell said.
In another church in Clerkenwell, Our Most Holy Redeemer, the ability of congregation members to hear the service has been dramatically increased by the installation of a new sound system.
St Saviour’s Church, Islington, has a new front entrance ramp for people with access requirements.
Tackling the challenges
Some churches had a large number of recommendations in their access audit reports to tackle, but CAE supported them with interpreting the findings, breaking the reports into manageable actions, including identifying quick, low-cost improvements and the steps to complete longer-term bigger requirements. Cloudesley noted that with this support, most churches were able to implement changes step by step and make real progress.
There was sometimes a clash between access requirements and heritage considerations, which occasionally created a stumbling block to securing permission for the work. However, there was often a workaround to be had. For instance, CAE suggested achieving colour contrast on historic stone steps by cleaning the tops but not the sides, rather than adding strips to them.
As churches often have very limited capacity, with some relying on a single individual to organise the work, moving from audit to action was more challenging than Cloudesey had expected. In addition, some churches had difficulty finding contractors prepared to take on smaller pieces of work, while larger, more complex works required more planning. Ultimately, however, most of the audited churches were able to progress with some of the recommendations CAE made.
Sharing learnings
Speaking about what other churches could learn from the project, Ms. Sorrell said: “As the work can sometimes be challenging, it’s critical to bring all stakeholders fully on board with the work and help them to understand why it is important.
“Even if people think there are no disabled people accessing a building, there may be people with hidden disabilities already there, or disabled people may be enabled to access the building for the first time through the accessibility work.
“Although the project focused on the accessibility of the building, it’s also important to think beyond this to ensure you’re offering an inclusive welcome within the building. This can be achieved through disability equality training which covers aspects such as attitudes and language around disability.”
If you are interested in getting an accessibility audit or bespoke training course through CAE, please get in touch via email at info@cae.org.uk or call us on 020 7822 8232.