Manchester City Council

Manchester City Council is committed to treating everyone fairly, and strives to achieve equality for the diverse mix of communities that make up the City of Manchester.

Since the early 1980s the Council has recognised that Manchester's population is made up of many diverse groups of people who make different, valuable contributions to the life of the city. These groups include black and other ethnic minority people, women, disabled people and lesbians and gay men.

Manchester has been one of the leading local authorities in working to ensure that all communities in Manchester have equal access to Council services and job opportunities.

The Council has promoted Manchester as an attractive, diverse and exciting multicultural city in which people want to live, visit and invest. The new developments in the city centre, East Manchester and Hulme reflect some of the results of this.

The Council also believes that an attractive city is made up of more than just new buildings. It encourages acceptance and understanding of diversity, and opposes prejudice because an attractive city needs to be one where all groups feel able to live safely.

Whilst all local councils have a legal duty to combat inequality, Manchester City Council has gone beyond this and made sure it has had an active, campaigning role on many equalities issues. Through consulting and involving those on the sharp end of prejudice the Council knows how much damage discrimination and prejudice do.

Its vision for Manchester in the twenty first century is for a dynamic and tolerant city which draws on all the skills of its residents. Part of this vision is that all the city's services, including Council services, need to be delivered in a fair and accessible way. It is the Council's assurance that discrimination and inequality in Council services will not be tolerated.