The UK Government is failing in its duty of care to disabled people, says a Lords report.

The House of Lords Equality Act 2010 and Disability Committee has been investigating the Equality Act and its impact on people with disabilities.

From taxi drivers refusing to take disabled people, to ‘disgraceful’ accessibility at sports grounds, to pubs and clubs failing to provide disabled toilets, the report, entitled ‘The Equality Act 2010: the impact on disabled people’, says practice in all areas must be improved.

The Committee concludes that laws designed to protect people with disabilities against discrimination simply aren’t working in practice. It says that employers, service providers and public bodies are still not adapting to their needs.

The Committee also found that Government action, whether through the introduction of tribunal fees, through the impact of spending cuts, or through the removal of provisions designed to help people with disabilities (under the guise of reducing red tape), is having a hugely adverse effect on them.

‘Equality Act should not have included disability’

Government inaction is also to blame. The Committee found that the Equality Act 2010, which was intended to harmonise all discrimination law across nine protected groups, should not have included disability when it was drawn up.

Although the Committee recognises that it is too late to undo this mistake, it says that the Government must do all it can, instead, to improve how the Act works for disabled people

Baroness Deech: “We have been struck by how disabled people are let down across the whole spectrum of life”

Baroness Deech, chair of the Committee, said: “Over the course of our inquiry we have been struck by how disabled people are let down across the whole spectrum of life.

“Access to public buildings remains an unnecessary challenge to disabled people. Public authorities can easily side-step their legal obligations to disabled people, and recent changes in the courts have led to disabled people finding it harder to fight discrimination.

“When it comes to the law requiring reasonable adjustments to prevent discrimination, we found that there are problems in almost every part of society, from disabled toilets in restaurants being used for storage, to schools refusing interpreters for deaf parents, to reasonable adjustments simply not being made.

“In the field of transport alone, we heard of an urgent need to meet disabled people’s requirements – whether it’s training for staff or implementing improvements to trains and buses – and we’re calling for all new rail infrastructure to incorporate step-free access in its design from the outset.

“The Government bears the ultimate responsibility for enabling disabled people to participate in society on equal terms, and we believe it is simply not discharging that responsibility.

‘Time to reverse the attitude that disabled people are an afterthought’

“The Committee would like to see changes right at the top of Government and is calling for the Minister for Disabled People to be given a place on the Cabinet’s Social Justice Committee.

“It’s time to reverse the attitude that disabled people are an afterthought. Many of the changes we suggest are simple and do not require legislation. We hope the Government will implement them quickly.”

The report finds that developments in recent years have made fighting discrimination more difficult for disabled people. New tribunal fees, less access to legal aid, and procedural changes have combined to create barriers to the effective enforcement of disabled people’s rights.

Published: 24 March 2016