Disability Access Audit UK: Equality Act Guide 2026

Overview

A disability access audit is a structured assessment of how accessible a building, service or facility is to disabled people. It is not a legal document in itself, and there is no single prescribed format set out in statute. Instead, audits are a working tool that businesses, landlords and public bodies use to evidence their thinking around the anticipatory duty to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010.

A typical audit covers the physical approach to a building, entrances, circulation routes, facilities such as toilets and counters, signage, lighting, acoustics, emergency egress, and the way staff deliver services. The output is usually a written report that records what was observed, identifies barriers for people with different impairments (mobility, sensory, cognitive, mental health), and sets out recommendations ranked by priority, cost and feasibility.

Many organisations use BS 8300 as a reference standard alongside Building Regulations Approved Document M, although meeting a technical standard is not the same as meeting the Equality Act duty, which is broader and more situational.

Key steps

1. Decide the scope of your audit. Start by defining what you want assessed: a single shop floor, an entire office building, a website, or the end-to-end customer journey. Scope drives cost and usefulness. A narrow audit on a new site will feel different to a full estate review, so be clear about boundaries, the audience (staff, customers, visitors), and whether you want policies and training included alongside the physical space.
2. Gather background information. Pull together floor plans, previous audit reports, lease terms, planning consents, fire strategy documents and any complaints or feedback received from disabled customers or employees. This context helps whoever is carrying out the audit understand constraints, for example listed building status or landlord consent requirements, and avoids recommendations that cannot realistically be delivered on the site in question.
3. Carry out the on-site assessment. The auditor walks the site using the lens of different disabilities, measuring door widths, gradients, counter heights, lighting levels and contrast, and testing things like hearing loops, lift controls and wayfinding. They will also observe how staff interact with visitors. Photographs, measurements and notes are recorded so that each finding can be traced back to a specific location or feature.
4. Produce a prioritised action plan. Findings are written up in a report that typically splits recommendations into quick wins, medium-term works and longer-term capital projects. Prioritisation usually reflects the severity of the barrier, the number of people affected, the cost of the change, and whether the adjustment is reasonable given the resources of the organisation. This plan becomes your working document.
5. Implement, record and review. Assign owners and timescales to each action, keep a written log of what has been done and when, and revisit the audit after major refurbishments, service changes or every few years as a matter of course. Keeping a paper trail is important because the reasonable adjustments duty is anticipatory and ongoing, not a one-off tick-box exercise.

Common questions