Tips for Taking Action Following Access Audits

Access Audits will provide you with the data you need to improve your business premises in terms of accessibility. These audit reports will be detailed and will list key areas in which you need to make adjustments to improve accessibility.

Once you have received your Access Audits reports then you need to examine them closely. All the information you need to get started is contained in the reports and this will be a valuable document to help make sure you comply with accessibility regulations such as the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and the Building Regulations.

Getting Started

Improving accessibility to your business premises is not just about putting in a few wheelchair ramps or disabled toilets. It goes much further than that and involves improving the accessibility of your business for all potential customers whether able bodied, physically disabled or sensory impaired. Fortunately your Access Audits reports will contain everything you need to know about improving accessibility including many important suggestions and solutions to specific issues conce
ing your business.

To help you get started with improving your business accessibility here are just a few useful tips:

1. Create a Disabled Access Action pla

It is important to create a proper action plan following Access Audits. This will help you identify clearly what adjustments need to be made and also how you can implement then in a way that is beneficial to your users and also affordable for you.

• Access Audits will provide a list of recommendations that can be easily combined with an achievable action plan.

• This means you can start planning your disabled access improvements straight away.

• Access Audits will also help you find cost effective solutions to access problems so that you can put in place realistic plans that your business can support.

2. Prioritise Your Adjustments

Don’t try to make all the adjustments needed to your business immediately. This can cause a lot of disruption to your daily operations and could set you back financially, particularly if you run a small business. Access Audits can help you prioritise your Disabled Access Action Plan as the report will list the recommendations in order of importance.

You will be able to see clearly which recommendations need to be carried out as soon as possible such as the removal of any major obstacles to accessibility. You will then be able to schedule those recommendations that are less urgent into your action plan in reasonable steps.

3. Ask about additional funding

There is some public funding available that could help you cover the costs of access adjustments to your business. This can include sources such as the National Lottery, government Access to Work schemes, National Heritage and more.

This can be very valuable if you are struggling to meet the costs of the adjustments you may need to make to your business premises.