Access and facilities for disabled people

Make significant changes to your premises

Since 1 October 2004, if you provide services to the public, you have been required either to take reasonable steps to remove, alter or provide a reasonable means of avoiding any physical feature of your premises which makes it unreasonably difficult or impossible for disabled people to make use of your service, or to provide your service by a reasonable alternative means.

However, if you are a service provider you do not have to make an adjustment to any physical feature for a period of up to ten years from installation or construction of that feature, provided that it was installed or constructed in accordance with relevant objectives, design considerations and provisions in whichever of the 1992, 1999 or 2004 editions of Approved Document M to the Buidling Regulations applied at the time of construction or installation.

This exemption does not apply to duties upon employers who still need to consider physical alterations as reasonable adjustments.

If your property was built before 1 October 1984, you may need to make significant alterations or changes to allow disabled people to access and use your premises.

Before you make any significant alterations or changes to your property, you should check whether or not you require planning permission. You can find out about applying for planning permission in your local area at the Planning Portal website, a web resource run by the government, or by contacting your local authority. See the page in this guide on improving access to and use of your facilities for disabled employees.

Read about the Northern Ireland disablement advisory service on the Department for Employment and Learning Northern Ireland website.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• When a person is considered disabled
• Change practices to give disabled people equal access
• Provide extra aids or services so disabled people can access your goods or services
• Overcome physical barriers to access
• Improve access to and use of your facilities for disabled employees
• What to consider before making an adjustment for disabled employees
• Make significant changes to your premises
• Make significant changes to premises you rent
• Here's how ensuring accessibility for staff and customers has helped our business

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