The most important thing is to be as pro-active as your business activities allow and not wait until a Disabled person cannot use your service or facilities as you are expected to have made or be planning to make reasonable adjustments within a timely manner.

The route you do this depends on your own situation but the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) recommend having an access audit undertaken to highlight where problems may occur (See www.drc.gov.uk)

Having read through the site assessment and report you will then be capable of making alterations which will serve Disabled people as well as other customers / users alike.

Complying with your duty to make reasonable adjustments to physical features is simplified if you instigate an access audit of your premises and prepare an access plan. Managing the inspectors findings may in the long term reduce the likelihood of legal claims brought against you for discrimination and will also help satisfy your requirements for insurance purposes.

Why Now?

Section 25(1) – A claim brought by any person that another person has discriminated against them in a way which is unlawful under this Act may be made the subject of civil proceedings

The DDA gives disabled people the right to bring a civil claim against your business where they find you have breached the provisions of the DDA and discriminated against them.


Failing to comply?

By September 2000 alone, over 8,000 claims had been brought against UK service providers under the DDA. The number of claims has continued to rise and this figure does not include all claims settled out of court.

The average damages awarded to a disabled person against a business, which has failed to comply with the DDA, is around £9/10,000. The maximum amount awarded prior to September 2000 was in the region of £167,000. As an example of the scope of the DDA, Section 25(2) provides that a disabled person can recover - compensation for injury to feelings - as a result of a business failing to comply with the DDA. Damages awarded for injury to feelings under Section 25(2) alone have exceeded £15,000. The average award for injury to feelings is £3,000+. (Figures sourced from the report prepared by Income Data Services for The Department for Work and Pensions, 2002 – ISBN 1 85197 978 6)

Potential Areas of Inspection

Following an access audit you will receive a detailed report based on the pre-set criteria. It will assist in helping to understand what is required of you and your premises. Recommendations and conclutions will idetify where and what are likely to be reasonable adjustments for your business to meet the requirements of the present interpritation of DDA.

External Steps
Corridors
Approach, Routes and Street Furniture
Internal Doors
Internal Ramps
Internal Stairs
Lifts
External Ramps
Platform Lifts and Stair-lifts
WCs: General Provision
WCs: Wheelchair users
Reception Areas and Lobbies
Internal Surfaces
Car Parking
Facilities
Directional Assistance
Lighting
Acoustics
Means of Escape
Entrances
Building Management
Staff Operating Policies (also for the protection of staffs welfare)

Once the goals and objectives are understood our fully trained auditors / surveyors will assess your building/s and either confirm or refute that, as far as reasonably practicable, your obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) have been met or likely to have been met through an agreed management plan and adjustments where required.