What the Equality Act Asks of Your Visitor Information

Most venues know they have a duty to disabled visitors. Fewer know that the duty is owed before anyone asks, that it covers the car park and the kerb as much as the building, and that it expressly includes giving information in a form people can use. This is a plain-English walk through what the Equality Act 2010 and the Equality and Human Rights Commission's Services Code of Practice actually require, and what that means for the directions, maps and access information a site publishes.

Who owes the duty

Part 3 of the Act covers anyone who provides a service to the public, whether or not they charge for it: a school on open day, a hospital, a museum, a stadium, a holiday park, a shopping centre, a business park receiving visitors, a church fete. Schools owe a parallel duty to pupils under Part 6, and public bodies carry the Public Sector Equality Duty in section 149 on top. The duty is owed to disabled people generally, not only to the person in front of you.

The three requirements

Chapter 7 of the code sets out the duty to make reasonable adjustments as three requirements (paragraph 7.8). A venue must take reasonable steps to avoid the substantial disadvantage caused by a provision, criterion or practice; by a physical feature, or provide a reasonable alternative method of using the service; and by the absence of an auxiliary aid or service.

The code's list of physical features is worth reading out loud at an estates meeting, because every item on it is something visitors have to get past before they reach the service: steps and stairways, kerbs and paving, parking areas, entrances and exits, internal and external doors, toilets and washing facilities, counters and service desks, lighting and ventilation, lifts and escalators, fixtures, furniture and equipment, and the scale of the premises. The list is not exhaustive.

Auxiliary aids are anything that gives a disabled person additional support, and the code's examples include ramps, signage, induction loops, interpreters, screen readers and extra staff help. Under "provision of information", the code says that where access to information is affected, reasonable steps include providing it in an accessible format. A map that only works as a picture, or a set of directions that only exist on a sign, is information that has not been made accessible.

Anticipatory: before anyone asks

For services and public functions the duty is anticipatory. A venue is expected to consider what disabled visitors are likely to need and to have made the adjustments already. Waiting for a wheelchair user to arrive at the stepped entrance and then finding a ramp is a failure of the duty, not a fulfilment of it. The same applies to information: the step-free way in should be published and findable before the visit, not explained on the phone to those who think to call.

This is the point the Euan's Guide 2025 Access Survey makes from the other side. Of more than 4,000 respondents, 42% said they avoid a venue altogether when they cannot find its access information, assuming it is not accessible, and 47% find it hard to locate that information before leaving home. Parking (64%) and navigation (56%) were the most common barriers reported. The duty and the lost visit point at the same thing.

What is reasonable

The Act does not list fixed factors; the code says it depends on the circumstances, and names the ones that usually matter: whether the step would be effective, how practicable it is, its cost and disruption, the size and resources of the provider, and any help available. Rebuilding a listed entrance may not be reasonable. Publishing which entrance is level, how far it is from the Blue Badge bays and how to get a lift to the first floor almost always is, because the cost is a few hours of someone's time.

What a venue should publish

Read the physical-features list as a table of contents. For each feature a visitor meets on the way in, say where it is and how a disabled visitor gets past it: the Blue Badge bays and the distance and surface to the entrance; the setting-down point; the step-free entrance and its door; the lifts and which floors they serve; the accessible toilets and the Changing Places toilet; counters at wheelchair height; the hearing loop; who to ask and how. Then make that information reachable: on the website, in the confirmation or appointment letter, on a sign at the gate, and in a form that works with a screen reader and at 200% zoom.

That is what Signposted is built to do. The accessible wayfinding page shows how the step-free route, the accessible places and the read-aloud directions answer each line of the code, and the accessibility statement sets out how the visitor page itself meets WCAG 2.2 AA. For the document most venues are asked for, see how to write an access statement; for the toilet with its own legal trigger, see Changing Places toilets.

This article is general information, not legal advice. The code of practice is admissible in court, so quote it rather than us.

Questions people ask

Does the Equality Act apply to a private school, a church or a small museum?

Yes. Part 3 of the Act covers anyone who provides a service to the public, paid or free, and Part 6 covers schools. Size affects what is reasonable, not whether the duty exists.

Is a PDF access statement enough?

It is a start, but a PDF that cannot be read by a screen reader, enlarged on a phone or found from the home page does not meet the auxiliary-aids requirement well. The code expects information in an accessible format, published before anyone asks.

Who enforces it?

A disabled person who is put at a substantial disadvantage can bring a claim in the county court. The Equality and Human Rights Commission can also investigate and take action. Public bodies additionally answer to the Public Sector Equality Duty in section 149.