New report provides insights into employing disabled people

February 4, 2004

New report provides insights into employing disabled people

Employers’ awareness of the current provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) is patchy, claims a new report by The Department for Work and Pensions.

The new report, ‘Disability and Business: Employers’ and Service Providers’ responses to the DDA in 2003 and preparation for 2004 changes’, based on responses from around 2000 telephone interviews, is summarised below.

Awareness and understanding of the DDA

Awareness was highest in the public or voluntary sectors and larger workplaces.

63% of employers were spontaneously aware of some legislation giving rights to disabled employees or applicants, though not all knew the name of the legislation.

Awareness of forthcoming 2004 changes was low – less than half of service providers who were aware of the DDA were aware of the forthcoming changes to the Act.

The concept of ‘reasonable adjustments’ was poorly understood by businesses who reported that practical examples would be useful.

From October 2004 employers of fewer than 15 employees and most currently excluded occupations like police officers, prison officers and fire fighters will be brought into the scope of the employment provisions of the DDA for the first time. From the same date, service providers will be required to take reasonable steps to remove, alter or avoid physical features of their premises which make it impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled people to access their services.

Barriers to change

The perceived cost of making adjustments for disabled people in the workplace is a barrier to making adjustments, though in reality only a quarter of businesses said that high costs were a problem.

A third of employers felt that taking on a disabled person is a major risk for an employer, and around half reported that their workplace would find it difficult to retain an employee who became disabled.

Low awareness of the DDA is the most important barrier to making adjustments. Size of workplace is also an important factor – smaller workplaces are less likely to make adjustments for disabled people.

The Disability Discrimination Act Part 2 makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against an employee or applicant for a reason related to their disability. Part 3 makes it unlawful for those who provide a service to the public to discriminate against a customer for a reason related to their disability. Both Parts 2 and 3 of the DDA require businesses to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to ensure disabled people are not disadvantaged.

Adjustments for disabled people

Most workplaces that had employed a disabled person (83%) and most businesses which provide a service to the public (74%) had made or planned to make adjustments to assist disabled people.

Three quarters of these employers had found these adjustments easy to make, however making adjustments caused more difficulties for service providers. Only 40% said they had not encountered any problems.

Generally, most employers had done little to assist disabled people through the application and interview process, though three quarters of employers said it would be easy to guarantee disabled applicants an interview.

There may be a lack of understanding of the diverse nature of disability, shown by the fact that adjustments for customers tended to be changes to physical accessibility, rather than to communication, staff training, or the way services are provided.

Motivators for change

The most commonly reported reasons for making adjustments were that it was perceived to be the right thing to do and to lead to benefits increasing a businesses’ customer base or boosting its public image.

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