3 December 2004 - Don’t leave disabled customers out in the cold this Christmas
With twenty one shopping days until Christmas, businesses around the country were urged today to make sure they are open to the £80 billion pounds disabled shoppers have to spend.
A new figure published today by the Department for Work and Pensions shows that Britain’s 10 million disabled adults have an enormous power on the high street so businesses everywhere should make sure they can get in and spend their money.
Speaking on International Day of Disabled People Maria Eagle said:
“Christmas shopping can be difficult at the best of times. For disabled people negotiating busy shops can be made worse if access is a problem. Since October changes to the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) require all service providers to make reasonable physical adjustments to allow disabled people access.
‘‘Disabled people have a right to the same treatment as anyone else when they are shopping. If traders want to make sure business is booming this Christmas they should really think about their disabled customers. With an annual spending power of around £80 billion pounds disabled shoppers will take their money somewhere else if they can’t get in. Not only will businesses lose out on their money but also that of their family and friends shopping with them.
“The Government is committed to the rights of disabled people and that is why we just introduced the Disability Discrimination Bill. The Bill will broaden the scope of the Disability Discrimination Act and strengthen its provisions.
The previous figure for the spending power of disabled people was £50 billion. The new figure has been estimated using Family Resources data for 2002/03 and is defined as annual spending power summed across all adults identified as disabled using the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) measure of disability.
Notes for editors
- The measure of spending power used is similar to the methodology used in the Women and Equality Unit’s (WEU) ‘Individual Incomes’ publication, produced for the WEU by DWP analysts. This methodology was developed in 1999 for data going back to 1996/97.
- Spending power is defined as ‘Income from all sources received by an individual
including earnings, tax credits, investments and occupational pensions/annuities, benefit income (including child benefit and income related benefits), and income from other sources (including maintenance income from an absent partner paid in respect of either spouse or children)’.
- less income tax payments and National Insurance contributions
- plus Housing Benefit/Council Tax Benefit payments, apportioned across household adults where appropriate
- plus income from letting or sub-letting, apportioned across household adults where appropriate
- less housing costs, apportioned across household adults where appropriate
- Domestic rates/Council Tax (gross of Council Tax Benefit)
- Rent (gross of Housing Benefit)
- Mortgage interest rates (net of tax relief)
- Structural insurance premiums (for owner occupiers)
- Ground rent and service charges
- The new access provisions from 1 October build on existing duties under the DDA for people or organisations that provide services to the public. For the first time service providers are required to make reasonable adjustments to physical features of premises, such as steps and high counters that act as barriers to disabled people accessing their service. These changes will further open up services to around 10 million disabled people in this country.
- For more information see www.disability.gov.uk
Press office: 020 7238 0866
Out of hours: 07659 108 883
Public enquiries: 020 7712 2171
Website: www.dwp.gov.uk