Sorry for the lack of recent additions to our blog but we are about to add alot of content to the site (Free resources, extra information about us and our services – as well as all about Occupational Therapy, the DDA / Equality Bill, etc) and haven’t had the time – no excuses. Hopefully you are following us on Twitter or Facebook so you should still have been kept up to date with some of the latest news and interesting articles that we have picked up over the last month or 2?

A few quick updates about the Equalities Act which is just around the corner……

The Equalities Act is just around the corner from properly starting – it received Royal Assent in April 2010 and the main provisions are intended to force according to the following schedule:

October 2010: Main provisions

April 2011: The integrated public sector Equality Duty, the Socio-economic Duty and dual discrimination protection.

2012: Ban on age discrimination in provision of goods, facilities, services and public functions.

2013: Private and voluntary sector gender pay transparency regulations (if required) and political parties publishing diversity data.

Since December 2009 there have been a number of amendments to the disability provisions of the Act. These include making the following explicit points:

The duty to make adjustments:

• Duty holders are required to take reasonable steps to remove, alter or provide reasonable means of avoiding present barriers to access.
• Compliance with the duty to make adjustments includes providing information in accessible formats.
• Duty holders cannot, except in very limited circumstances, make a disabled person pay for the cost of a reasonable adjustment.

Definition of disability:

• Defines ‘substantial’ as having effects which are more than minor or trivial, a definition which must be used by the courts.

Pre-employment health questions:

• It is unlawful for an employer to ask job applicants about their health or disability before shortlisting or offering a job, with limited exceptions.

More information about the Equality Act can be found at the Government Equalities Office website:

http://www.equalities.gov.uk/equality_bill.aspx

Access Group Resource Website:

Local access groups provide a unique service in using their experience to provide a critique of the built environment. Another really useful site which has been put together by the CAE, supported by RADAR, and various access groups around the country provides the support alot of these groups needs and is well worth checking out:

http://www.accessgroupresources.co.uk

Hopefully that covers some useful information but please do check out our page on Facebook and Tweets on Twitter for more regular updates and more interesting / fun stories and information…..and remember to keep coming back for our blog updates or sign up for our Newsletter….…..

Inclusion are based around London, Kent, Surrey, Sussex and cover the whole of the south of the UK – please contact us for further details or for free support and advice around any Disability access audit, DDA or Occupational Therapy issues. Email info@inclusion.me.uk or ring 01892 704065.