Only 25% of small businesses have a disability discrimination policy

New research from the Department of Work and Pensions suggests that only 25% of small businesses have a written disability discrimination policy in place, and those that do often don’t follow it through in practice or in detail. However, there is evidence of a softening of attitude by employers towards employing disabled people.

The research examines small employers’ awareness of the DDA and measures how they were responding to the new duties under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) introduced on 1 October 2004.

It looked at issues mainly relating to the employers’ awareness of, and responses to, the employment provisions in Part 2 of the DDA though it also picks up on some issues from the customer service provisions in Part 3 of the DDA.

The research is a follow–up to a 2003 survey of Employers’ and Service Providers’ responses to the DDA and their preparations for the 2004 duties. This latest report presents the analysis of the data from a survey conducted in Spring 2004 and comparisons to the initial survey results from 2003.

The main findings were:
Total awareness of DDA (spontaneous and prompted awareness of DDA by name) has risen amongst small employers from 58% to 63% (spontaneous awareness of DDA by name from 4% to 17%, and general awareness of legislation with regard to employment and disability from 59% to 74%). Media is still the main source of awareness (32%) but leaflets accounted for 13% - up from 8%.

The proportion of negative responses to statements about barriers to employing disabled people (e.g. this workplace has equal opportunities for disabled employees), have decreased. This indicates a softening of attitudes of employers towards the employment of disabled people.
Employers with disabled employees were more likely to say they had made an adjustment, with costs seeming to be less of a deterrent.

Employers less likely, than in 2003, to say they had not made any changes because they could not afford to. 61% of those that had made adjustments had made them at additional cost and 82% because it was the right thing to do for the disabled person. Most small businesses "filed" or discarded information on the DDA that was not of immediate use. A need for more information on and understanding of disabled people and the DDA is demonstrated, but it needs to be relevant at the time, for example when an organisation is recruiting or when an existing employee becomes disabled.

Quantitative research suggests 25% of small businesses now have a written policy for disabled people. However when explored in more depth, qualitative findings suggest that, whilst there is stated policy in place, it isn’t always fully worked through in practice and detail.
There is a reduction in approaches to Jobcentre Plus and other Governmental Departments for advice on disability. Instead a higher proportion of small business’ are now seeking advice from lawyers and solicitors, trade unions and professional bodies.

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