8 April 2005 - Disability Discrimination Act receives Royal Assent
The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) today received Royal Assent.
The Act amends the existing Disability Discrimination Act to:
- Introduce a new positive duty on public bodies to promote equality of opportunity for disabled people
- Provide protection for more people diagnosed with the progressive conditions of HIV, MS and cancer
- Remove the requirement that mental illnesses must be “clinically well-recognised”
- Ensure that all functions of public authorities (e.g. issuing licences) are covered by the DDA and not just services as now
- Provide a power to apply the DDA duties on other service providers to the provision of transport vehicles
- Allow an “end date”, no later than 2020, by which all rail vehicles will have to comply with accessibility regulations, and apply those regulations to vehicles which are being refurbished
- Include provisions enabling disabled people to get reasonable adjustments, other than to physical features, when dealing with landlords and managers of rented premises
- Ensure that a landlord cannot unreasonably refuse consent where a disabled tenant wishes to make an adaptation to rented accommodation
- Provide new rights for disabled local Councillors not to be discriminated against by their local authority including rights to reasonable adjustments
- Cover bodies that award general qualifications (like GCSEs and A Levels)
- Cover larger private members’ clubs (i.e. those with 25 or more members)
Notes for editors
- Following pre-legislative scrutiny on a draft version of the Bill in 2004, the Government accepted the majority of the Parliamentary Committee’s recommendations. The Bill was revised to include those legislative measures which the Government accepted, and was further amended during consideration in the Lords to include other recommendations made by the Scrutiny Committee and further changes.
- A copy of the Act can be obtained from The Stationery Office for £9.55, 0870 600 5522, www.tso.co.uk
- The DDA, and Regulations made under it, already provides extensive protection for disabled people against discrimination in areas such as employment, education, transport and access to goods and services. New provisions which came into force on 1 October 2004 increased protection for disabled people in employment and in access to goods and services. They brought small businesses, with fewer than 15 employees, and previously excluded occupations such as police officers, partners in business partnerships, within the scope of the employment provisions for the first time. This extended coverage to an additional 1 million employers, and 7 million more jobs, including 600,000 in which disabled people already work.
- The new access provisions from 1 October 2004 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
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