Disability Discrimination Act: What does it mean for your business?

James Heath of solicitors Foot Anstey Sargent explains why all companies should be acting now

In October 2004 the final stages of the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act come into force introducing a number of new measures that affect all businesses including, for the first time, those that employ under 15 people.

The Act aims to protect disabled people against discrimination both when in employment and when using a service or facility. It states that employers or those who provide a service will have to make “reasonable adjustments” to their premises in order to make their services accessible to disabled people. There are exemptions to the Act – private members clubs being one, but although there are restrictions on the changes that can be made to listed buildings, they are not exempt from the Act.

What will this mean to small businesses and how will they know what adjustments they have to make to comply with the law?

The legislation will force businesses to assess whether any adjustments need to be made to their premises to accommodate the needs of people who suffer from disability. The act focuses on the duty of business owners and employers to make sure that reasonable adjustments are made and it is anticipated that in some cases this will involve physical changes to buildings rather than simply moving the furniture around to make the building more accessible. Reasonable adjustments should not be interpreted too narrowly, adjustments can be made in four ways; removing barriers or obstacles, making alterations such as adding a ramp, finding a means of avoiding the problem or providing the service by reasonable alternative means.

Having assessed its premises, the business can make a judgement as to whether the costs this would incur would be ‘reasonable’ for a business of its size. Should the business decide not to make any changes on the grounds of excessive cost implications, this will give them the basis of a legal defence should they be challenged by the court. In addition to cost, businesses can also take into account how effective, practical or disruptive the potential adjustment will be. These considerations should all be taken into account when assessing whether an adjustment would be “reasonable”.

The key to this legislation is reasonability. There is no rulebook for businesses to follow, different people will have different needs and some businesses will be able to afford to make more radical changes than others. For example, if the expenditure required to comply with the act forced the local butcher out of business then the purpose of the act would be defeated, as the shop would no longer be there for the disabled people to either work in or buy their meat. On the other hand there are also pressing economic arguments for making the changes, if a disabled person is unable to use your services or buy goods from your premises then they will go else where taking their custom to your competitors.

In the longer term the test of reasonableness will be tested by the courts but until then businesses will need to carefully assess their individual situations and make every effort to assist disabled people.