Disability Rights Commission Backs Direct Enquiries
The Disability Rights Commission, the independent body that promotes equality of opportunity for disabled people in the UK, has announced its support of Direct Enquiries, the Nationwide Access Register.
Bert Massie, Chairman of the Disability Rights Commission, said:
“The DRC is delighted that a service such as Direct Enquiries.com exists as it helps to give disabled people more choice and at the same time assists businesses both large and small to meet part of their legal obligations. As importantly, it helps service providers to attract more business from the 10 million disabled adults that spend £80billion per year in the UK.”
The Direct Enquiries website, launched in 2003, receives a huge interest from the public with the average number of hits at 133,000 per week from people looking for businesses offering the access and facilities they require.
Direct Enquiries was originally developed to allow companies to communicate the access and facilities they provide for disabled people at each of their locations. Following its success in providing disabled people with such information, the service has been enhanced to allow companies to detail which of their locations are accessible for parents with children and whether they offer changing facilities. With over 600,000 babies being born every year there is a huge demand for this information.
The business case
Companies who are already registering their locations understand the benefits of communicating to a greater audience. The business case for registering with Direct Enquiries falls into several areas:
Return on Investment (ROI)
Direct Enquiries provides the perfect platform to attract more business to companies that have already spent time and money providing better facilities and access for disabled people. This could range from car parking, pushchair access or staff assistance, through to people who may require wheelchair access or an induction loop.
Don’t give business away
If your business does offer good facilities and you are not communicating to as many people as possible then you may be giving business AWAY. If your peers are registered with Direct Enquiries they are potentially exposing their business to thousands of people every day that you are not.
Legal obligation
All businesses have a legal obligation under the Disability Discrimination Act Part III to communicate. In particular 4.26 of the code of practice states: businesses have an obligation to communicate where a particular service is 'unreasonably difficult' for people to use.
- Are you confident that people can find the information they require about your business?
Does your website detail every location and the access that it does and does not offer?If a member of the public calls your customer services team, could they tell the customer which location is the most accessible for them in the town of their interest?Do your branch staff understand what facilities they can offer and why they are unable to offer others?
Why companies work with Direct Enquiries?
The services provided by Direct Enquiries allow companies to communicate to a larger audience. Companies working with Direct Enquiries are not only communicating on a central source of information already being used by thousands of people every day, but they are also communicating the same information from their own websites and over the phone via their customer services teams.
The services that Direct Enquiries offer are as follows:
Nationwide registration: Companies can detail up to four A4 pages of information about each of their locations and update the details as often as they wish, without charge. Costs are based per location and range from £18 to £35 per year dependant on how many locations are registered and how the relevant data is formatted and submitted.
Telephone assessments: Should you require assistance collating your access information, Direct Enquiries’ customer relations team will contact each of your branches directly and complete a telephone assessment. The assessment takes approximately eight minutes and consists of a series of short questions. This service helps prioritise your alterations and keep you up to date with changes within your premises. The telephone assessment service is charged as an addition to registration and ranges from £15 to £30 per location depending on how many locations you wish to have assessed. Many clients have taken advantage of this service already including Abbey, Woolworths, and WHSmith.
What people say about Direct Enquiries.
Susan Scott-Parker, Chief Executive, Employers’ Forum on Disability
“Direct Enquiries is an invaluable way of enabling businesses to share information that will help disabled people, as well as their families, friends and carers. The fully accessible online service makes it easier for businesses to serve disabled customers and value disabled people as stakeholders in the wider community.”
Darren Cook, Gala Group
“Gala Bingo and Gala Casino outlets each have varied access and facilities. When the DDA came into effect we realised that the information we had regarding access to our sites needed updating to ensure its accuracy. As a result of this, each Gala location has a dedicated page on the Direct Enquiries website, so customers can compare our locations and make an informed decision as to which one provides the best facilities to meet their needs.”
Laurence Singer, Argos Retail Group
“Argos and Homebase endeavour to make our shops as comfortable and accessible as possible, with dropdown or low level counters, induction loops and staff assistance available to shoppers. Direct Enquiries features all of this information on its website and also allows us to inform customers not only of our in-store facilities, but also of our alternative shopping services, such as our websites, Minicom services, and audio CD version of the Argos catalogue, which may be more convenient for them.”
(The above has been transcribed with kind permission of the BRC - www.brc.org.uk)