Equality Act 2010

The Equality Act 2010 came into effect on October 1st 2010 replacing all the existing anti-discrimination laws (including the DDA) with a single Act.

The requirements to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ have been strengthened in the new Act, but essentially the main principles appear to remain the same.

Service providers should treat everyone accessing their goods, facilities or services fairly, regardless of their age, gender, race, sexual orientation, disability, gender reassignment, religion or belief, and guard against making assumptions about the characteristics of individuals.

The Equality Act 2010 requires that service providers must think ahead and take steps to address barriers that impede disabled people.

Providers should not wait until a disabled person experiences difficulties using a service, as this may make it too late to make the necessary adjustment.

The three requirements for making reasonable adjustments are:

1. Make ‘reasonable’ changes to the way things are done – such as changing practices, policies or procedures where disabled people would be at a substantial disadvantage’ e.g. amend a ‘no dogs’ policy.
2. Make ‘reasonable’ changes to the built environment – such as making changes to the structure of a building to improve access e.g. fitting handrails alongside steps.
3. Provide auxiliary aids and services – such as providing information in an accessible format, an induction loop for customers with hearing aids.

Can non-compliance to Reasonable Adjustments be justified?

We offer a corporate overview of compliance with The Equality Act 2010 for organisations, bringing our experience across many sectors and companies to bear.

We can help you define what changes you need to make and how quickly you need to react.

By having a review of your facilities you are already showing that you are taking your responsibilities seriously.

We will carry out surveys and provide reports for individual sites to comply with your corporate policy whether the policy is devised by us for you or is already in place.

Please contact us to discuss your requirements.