How DDA affects you
October 1st 2004

The UK Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) came into effect in December 1996 and brought in measures to prevent discrimination against disabled people. The parts to the DDA that commonly affect businesses are Part II (that aims to prevent discrimination against employees) and Part III (that aims to ensure that disabled people have equal access to products and services). On 1st October 2004, further duties came into force that require service providers to ensure that physical features of their premises are not making their services impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled people to use. Failure to make reasonable adjustments may mean that businesses are discriminating against disabled people.

Part II Employer’s duties

Part II applies to all businesses that employ 15 or more people, regardless of the business sector. Under Part II of the DDA employers should not discriminate against disabled people. Discrimination may occur where an employer: treats the disabled employee less favourably than a non-disabled employee; does not make reasonable adjustments in order to prevent an arrangement or physical feature having a discriminatory effect against employees with disabilities.

Under the employment section of the DDA, the duty of provision of a reasonable adjustment is triggered when an individual disabled person applies for a job, is employed or it becomes apparent that an existing employee requires some form of accommodation adjustment. This duty applies during employment and recruitment, for example, selection and interview procedures and the arrangements for using premises for such procedures, job offers, contractual arrangements and working conditions.

The DDA gives a number of examples of ‘steps’ which employers may have to take, if it is reasonable for them to do so in all circumstances of the case. Steps other than those listed here, or a combination of steps, will sometimes have to be taken: making adjustments to premises; allocating some of the disabled person’s duties to another person; altering the person’s work hours; assigning the person to a different place of work; acquiring special equipment or modifying existing equipment; modifying procedures for testing or assessment; providing a reader or interpreter; providing

Part III Service provider’s duties

A service provider is anyone who provides goods, facilities and services to the general public, whether paid for or free. Under Part III of the DDA, service providers have a legal duty to take reasonable steps to make these services available to disabled people. They should not discriminate by: refusing to provide a service; providing a service of a lower standard or in a worse manner; providing a service on less favourable terms than they would to service users without a disability; failing to comply with the duty to make reasonable adjustments to a physical feature of their premises that makes it impossible or unreasonably difficult for a disabled person to make use of the service (introduced on 1st October 2004).

Examples of reasonable adjustments include: Changing practices, policies and procedures; providing auxiliary aids and services; removing a physical feature (that makes a service impossible or unreasonably difficult for a disabled person to access); altering the physical feature so that it no longer has a discriminatory effect; providing a reasonable means of avoiding the physical feature; providing the service by a reasonable alternative method.

What can businesses do so as not to discriminate?

A useful starting point in assessing the current state of accessibility of services and buildings is to arrange for an access audit of the premises to be conducted.

This involves a survey of the building and facilities to identify its accessibility and ease of use by disabled people. It focuses on a number of different issues around physical access, such as physical barriers, signage, internal environment, auxiliary aids, staff training and written information. Conducting an access audit can identify barriers and hazards to people with disabilities that may need to be changed.

Once barriers have been identified, reasonable adjustments should be made to any physical features of the premises that cause a substantial disadvantage to the disabled person compared with a non-disabled person or make services impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled people to use.

The DDA was not designed to put companies out of business. It requires employers and service providers to take such steps as are reasonable in all the circumstances of the case. Factors which may have a bearing on the reasonableness of an adjustment may be the effectiveness of the suggested action, its practicality, its cost and any disruption caused.

The DDA does not require a business to adopt one particular way of meeting its obligations to employees and service users. The focus of the DDA is on results.

The aim is to make services accessible to disabled people or to ensure a disabled employee can carry out their job without substantial disadvantage.

Discriminating against disabled people is illegal and not only runs the risk of litigation it also risks damaging employee and customer confidence and trust. Taking positive steps to improve accessibility mitigates these risks and can create real commercial benefit.

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