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Retailers excluding 12 million disabled customers, says government

Thousands of high street businesses could be turning away the custom of one in five people, owing to the lack of accessibility for the disabled, according to new government figures. 

Latest figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show that households with a disabled person have a combined income of £212bn after housing costs.

The research also found that disabled people find shopping the most difficult experience for accessibility, followed by going to the cinema, theatre and concerts.

Mark Harper, minister for disabled people, said: “We want businesses up and down our high streets to realise they’re excluding more than 12 million customers and their families if they fail to cater for disabled people.

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“That’s the equivalent to the populations of London, Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Cardiff and Manchester combined. It’s not just about fairness, it makes good business sense to be accessible.”

The minister has written to more than 200 of Britain’s biggest businesses and more than 80 trade organisations with a combined 420,000 members, as part of the Accessible Britain Challenge – a call to communities to be more accessible to disabled people and their families.

He has called on business to clear clutter from corridors and aisles, print paperwork such as menus and leaflets using larger font sizes, train staff to be confident in offering assistance if required and provide disabled parking spots.

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