Disability Conciliation Service
This page contains information about the Disability Conciliation Service, including:
What it does
Advantages and disadvantages
READ THIS! An important note on advantages and disadvantages
Which complaints are eligible and which are not?
Cost
Timescale
Procedure
Outcomes
What it does
The Disability Conciliation Service (DCS) was set up as an independent scheme for resolving disputes about disability discrimination in the provision of goods and services and in education. This means, for example, that if you think it is difficult or impossible for you to use a shop, a bank, a bar, an airport, a school or a university course because of your disability, you can try to resolve this through a conciliation meeting with the organisation.
From April 2009 the service has expanded to cover discrimination disputes in employment, as well as goods and services and education.
As well as disability discrimination, it also now covers discrimination on the grounds of:
- Race
- Gender
- Religion and belief
- Sexual orientation
You can use the service if you are an adult, or the parent of a child under eighteen.
The service is funded by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), and run by Mediation Works.
This information applies in England, Wales and Scotland. A similar service is provided in Northern Ireland by Mediation Works, and funded by the Equalities Commission for Northern Ireland. Please note that at present DCS NI can only deal with disability discrimination.
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Advantages
- It is free
- It is independent
- It is relatively quick
- The meeting will be arranged at a neutral venue close to where you live
- Any reasonable adjustments that help you attend the meeting will be made
- You can take a supporter with you
- It gives you an opportunity to tell your story, and talk face to face with people from the organisation involved
- You can agree on a wide and flexible range of remedies
- You can still take your case to court if there is no agreement
Disadvantages
- It does not always end in a resolution
- You cannot usually have your solicitor or legal adviser with you at the conciliation meeting
- There is normally just one conciliation meeting, so you need to decide on the day whether or not you will agree to the proposed settlement
- Agreements usually remain private, so there will be no public naming and shaming of bad practice
- There is no legal precedent created which others could rely on in the future
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READ THIS! An important note on advantages and disadvantages
When you are thinking about whether or not to use the DCS, you need to consider what your other options are. If you have a legal case against an organisation, you really need to get some independent advice about whether to use the DCS rather than go to court or to a tribunal. There are two reasons for this:
- There are time limits for making a claim, especially in an employment tribunal. Although you can usually get a three month extension for using the DCS, you don’t want to make a mistake about this. If you miss the deadline, you may miss your chance to get a legal remedy.
- If you go to the DCS, you can still take your claim to court or tribunal if you cannot reach an agreement at the conciliation meeting. However, on the day of the conciliation you will be asked to decide whether or not the proposed agreements negotiated between you and the other party are acceptable as a ‘Full and Final’ settlement of your claim. You cannot go away and think about it. If you decide that you will accept the agreement, you cannot take the same claim to a court or tribunal later. So it is important to get some independent advice before the conciliation takes place, and ideally have access to your legal adviser on the day of the conciliation as well.
It is worth noting that while there are a lot of day-to-day access problems for people with disabilities, it is not necessarily easy to enforce your legal rights. In its last year before becoming part of the EHRC, the Disability Rights Commission took around 120,000 calls to its disability helpline, 250 of those went to conciliation, and only a handful of cases got as far as a court hearing.
To read an email exchange on rights-based mediation, which looks at the pros and cons of using the Disability Conciliation Service, go to Doing the rights thing on the ASA main website. This article was written by Val Reid and Margaret Doyle for the May 2006 edition of Mediation in Practice.
If you are not sure whether you have a valid case, and would like to talk about your options, you can call the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) helpline. All referrals to the conciliation service must go through the EHRC helpline, so when you call ask about conciliation, and whether it might be a good choice for you.
The EHRC helpline numbers are :
England: 0845 604 6610
Wales: 0845 604 8810
Scotland: 0845 604 5510
The Equalities Commission Northern Ireland: 028 90 890 890
If your discrimination problem is to do with your employment, you could also contact the Acas helpline on 08457 47 47 47 for information, advice and conciliation.
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Which complaints are eligible and which are not?
This service began a few years ago to deal with claims under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. This involved disputes with providers of goods and services such as:
- restaurants or bars
- health clubs or leisure centres
- supermarkets
- banks
- landlords
- government departments
It also included disputes with education providers including:
- schools and nurseries in Scotland and Northern Ireland (but not in England and Wales)
- colleges
- universities
- further education institutions
Claims of disability discrimination in schools in England and Wales are currently dealt with through a special tribunal - see First Tier Tribunal (SEND) for more details.
From April 2009 the DCS has expanded to cover:
- Provision of Goods, Services and Facilities
- Post 16 Education
- Employment
- Training
- Airports, airlines and air travel agents (ATA – Air Travel Accessibility under EC Regulation 1107/2006)
- Pre 16 Schools cases
From April 2009 the DCS will also offer conciliation in disputes about other types of discrimination, including:
- Race
- Gender
- Religion and belief
- Sexual orientation
For more information on how to choose the most appropriate way to resolve a discrimination case, see READ THIS! An important note on advantages and disadvantages.
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Cost
The scheme is free to both parties, as it is fully funded by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
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Timescale
From the time the EHRC refers the case to the conciliation service, the conciliation meeting will usually take place within eight weeks.
NB. If your case is about employment discrimination, you have a three month time limit to make an application to an employment tribunal. You should get some legal advice straight away, as it may be best to make a tribunal application before trying the conciliation service.
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Procedure
Anyone wishing to use the DCS must be referred by the Equality and Human Rights Commission in England, Wales and Scotland, or by the Equalities Commission for Northern Ireland.
When you speak to a helpline adviser, the first thing they will do is to make sure that you have a valid legal claim. If this is the case, they will discuss with you, and possibly with the Commission’s legal team, whether it would be better to take the case to court, or to try to set up a conciliation appointment. Unless the Commission decides that your case covers a new point of law, and therefore that a legal precedent could be established, it is unlikely that they will represent you in court. If the Commission thinks your case is suitable, they will offer you access to the Disability Conciliation Service. If you agree, they will contact the other party on your behalf. You may choose to take the case to court instead.
For more information, have a look at 'How to be referred to the DCS' on the Disability Conciliation Service website.
If you are interested in the possibility of conciliation, and the helpline adviser does not suggest it, don’t be afraid to ask about whether your case might be suitable. The Equality and Human Rights Commission was created in October 2007; before that date referrals went through the Disability Rights Commission helpline, where there was a greater awareness of this service.
If the Commission refers the case to conciliation, the DCS will contact both parties and get agreement from both that they are willing to proceed. The DCS will work with both parties by phone to prepare them for conciliation.
The DCS can’t give you legal advice, but they will tell you where you can get legal advice and information before your conciliation meeting.
A conciliator will be appointed from the DCS panel of independent conciliators, and a meeting will be arranged. This is usually a face-to-face meeting held at a venue that is convenient, accessible and acceptable to both parties. The meeting usually lasts between two and four hours. If you would find it difficult to travel, or to manage a long meeting, then the DCS can arrange telephone or email conciliation.
Supporters are welcome at the meeting, but legal representation is not encouraged. However, if you think it is important to have your solicitor or legal adviser present, and if DCS as well as the other party agree, exceptions can be made. Another option is to arrange for your legal adviser to be available for contact by telephone during the meeting.
The conciliator helps the parties to discuss the issues in dispute and, if possible, to reach an agreement that might resolve the problem. Although the DCS refers to this as Conciliation, it is in fact a very similar process to Mediation.
Both parties will have to agree on any solution. If both sides agree on the day that it represents a ‘full and final settlement’ of the legal claim, this means that neither party will be able to take the claim to court or tribunal later. This is why it is important to get some legal advice before you meet, and where necessary, to be able to talk to your legal adviser in person or by phone during the conciliation.
To see how a typical case might work, have a look at Jean's story.
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Outcomes
If you manage to reach an agreement at the conciliation meeting, the conciliator will write this up there and then, and both parties will sign it. A typed copy will be sent to you later. So far, around 84% of goods and services cases, and around 65% of education cases have reached a full and final settlement at the conciliation meeting.
One of the good things about conciliation is that you can agree to just about anything – you are not confined to the remedies a court can impose. For example, agreements can include:
- apologies
- explanations
- compensation
- changes in policy or procedures
- staff training in disability awareness
- information being made available in accessible formats
- improvements and arrangements for future communication
The conciliator must ensure that any agreement is in line with rights and responsibilities set out in the Disability Discrimination Act, or in other discrimination legislation.
It is worth noting that the DCS asks all users, both complainants and respondents, about their experience of using the service. To date, a combined total of 87% of complainants and respondents (both complainers and those complained about) said that the service met or exceeded their needs, and 93% would recommend using the DCS to others.
Cases and agreements remain private, unless both parties agree to publish information about the case. However, the DCS publishes anonymised case digests on their website, so you can see examples of the outcomes achieved.
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October 2009
Key websites
Disability Conciliation Service
