Committed to Equality?

With the end of the Paralympics can you say that your shop is committed to Equality? Does it rate a Gold, Silver or Bronze medal? The Disability Discrimination Act came into force in 1995 and this has now been superceded by the Equality Act 2010.

Although the Olympic Village was geared up for everyone whatever their ability/disability we know that there are large numbers of service providers out there that have not yet complied “reasonable adjustments” in order to avoid any compensation payments under the Act. So do you rate your Business as:

Gold: Access Audit has been carried out and all the legislation as far as practical has been carried out to “reasonable adjustment” standards.

Silver: I have not carried out my Access Audit but, I have tried what I believe is the right thing to do.

Bronze: I have not done anything as I feel my premises are okay, and why should I spend money on an Access Audit or any adaptions needed?

Some of the questions that need answering in an Access Audit are:

• Have you had an access audit carried out on your premises?
• Did you make the adjustments highlighted in the access audit report?
• Can you list the reasonable adjustments that were made?
• Do you know when the adjustments were carried out?
• Has your staff had any disability awareness training?

If the answer is no to any of the questions above then you need to make use of ESL Services to ensure compliance. If you do comply then the likelihood is you will be taken to court.

What does it mean if a service provider is taken to court and loses the case?

You could be fined, be ordered to pay compensation for injury to feelings and have to pay legal costs for both Solicitors. After that you will still have to make the adjustments ordered by the court. ESL have advised that after speaking with their Solicitors the likely level of compensation awarded for ‘Injury to Feelings’ as highlighted in a recent cases were:

• £1,500 to £5,000 for mild embarrassment
• £5,000-£15,000 for moderate embarrassment
• £15,000 + for serious injury to feelings and embarrassment

These figures do not include Solicitors costs, your time away from work, the cost of putting things right or other intangible costs such as negative publicity when details of the case appear in the local media etc.

There are also a number of other pieces of legislation that need to be kept up to date with and these are also covered by ESL in our online deal. Please go to Health & Safety and Statutory Compliance page to get details now.