1 October 2004 - New Disability Regulations in Force Today: Businesses to Comply or Face Hefty Fines
The long awaited Disability Regulations
update has come into force as from today, 1st October 2004.
Companies who do not comply with the new regulations, as far as is
reasonably practicable, by making their buildings accessible to the disabled
public, could face court hearings and hefty fines, which start at £1,000,
with no maximum level.
The TUC General Secretary, Mr. Brendan Barber said:
"Today’s changes will make a real difference to disabled people’s work and home lives. Previously the limited scope of disability legislation meant that small firms were able to get away with treating disabled people unfairly. Now, discriminating employers will no longer be able to hide behind the law.
"But although the changes have been well publicised, many firms have been burying their heads in the sand, hoping that today would never happen. Now all public buildings must be fully accessible, many companies could find themselves up in court.
"As much as today is a major advance towards equal treatment, there is still much work to do. The Government has promised a new disability bill in the next Parliament and the TUC will campaign to make sure that this delivers even more for disabled people".
The new regulations, implemented today, is the next stage of the Disability
Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA), which will provide legal rights for disabled
people, both at work and within their daily lives and will make a
considerable difference. The bill will also extend to people disabled by
HIV, Cancer and MS.
Some of the changes to the DDA will be in the following areas:
-
Shops, council offices, post offices, undergrounds etc. will now be required to provide the necessary access to their premises, in order that disabled persons can gain access to their services.
-
Prior to the new legislation, businesses with fewer than 15 people were able to claim exemption. This is now no longer the case.
-
Work experience, training, police and fire departments are now covered by the legislation also.
-
Employers allowed by the DDA in the past to argue a case for justification of discrimination, will now find this to be impossible and failure to carry out any reasonable adjustments which would allow a disabled person to have access to services or to work, will result in court procedures and perhaps result in a hefty fine.
Article by Alexandra Johnston
