9 October 2008
The legislation brought in to ensure greater accessibility to buildings is not being properly enforced, it has been claimed, even where claimants are forced to use these buildings or lose benefits.
We are keen to hear from anyone who is experiencing problems with disabled access to buildings being used by government departments or their appointed agencies.
It follows a complaint made by one of our disabled members, who was called to attend a series of Work Focus Interview in a building with serious accessibility problems.
Despite registering a formal complaint about the lack of facilities and accessibility, our member is still waiting for an official response.
“I found it hard to believe that an agency whose main work was with disabled people could be so disabled unfriendly,” our member explained.
“They do not seem to want to address any of these short-comings, despite repeated requests. They refuse to discuss anything other than their standard questions due to the time they claim they are allowed for the interview.
“Failure to answer any of these standard questions will be reported to the Jobcentre and the interview stopped – my benefit would then be terminated.”
Following two recent WFI meetings, our member has catalogued the failings. These include poor provision of disabled bays in the car park, difficulty gaining access through the front entrance, little (or no) disabled signage or even guidance to the organisation’s offices and the disabled toilet used for storage.
It prompted us to wonder how many others are experiencing similar problems?
Let us know if you have been affected.We are keen to hear from anyone who is experiencing problems with disabled access to buildings being used by government departments or their appointed agencies.
It follows a complaint made by one of our disabled members, who was called to attend a series of Work Focus Interview in a building with serious accessibility problems.
Despite registering a formal complaint about the lack of facilities and accessibility, our member is still waiting for an official response.
“I found it hard to believe that an agency whose main work was with disabled people could be so disabled unfriendly,” our member explained.
“They do not seem to want to address any of these short-comings, despite repeated requests. They refuse to discuss anything other than their standard questions due to the time they claim they are allowed for the interview.
“Failure to answer any of these standard questions will be reported to the Jobcentre and the interview stopped – my benefit would then be terminated.”
Following two recent WFI meetings, our member has catalogued the failings. These include poor provision of disabled bays in the car park, difficulty gaining access through the front entrance, little (or no) disabled signage or even guidance to the organisation’s offices and the disabled toilet used for storage.
It prompted us to wonder how many others are experiencing similar problems?
Let us know if you have been affected.
