We have strong relationships with our Members and Partners who get in touch often. Our friendly team enjoy getting to know you and we love hearing from you again and again. This also helps us to get to know your organisation more, including your challenges and your successes.
What do we do?
We are pragmatic problem-solvers who believe everything can be improved. We give advice that will help you practically ‘now’, and we will also advise on the wider strategic or policy implications and improvements which will prevent future difficulties.
Specific queries
Our Member and Partner call us for many reasons, including the following:
- Case management support (for example, when carrying out absences, performance, or dismissal procedures).
- Reviewing language and accuracy of forms, documents, organisational communications, announcement, surveys, and consultations.
- Advice on customer complaints and disputes.
- Advice on how to understand when adjustments may and may not be ‘reasonable’.
- Managing employees and customers with a disability or long-term condition.
Talking things through
Many of our Members and Partners contact us even when they don’t have specific questions – for example, to let us know what they are currently working on, to run ideas by us, or to get our view on a situation even if they know the answer.
On-going case support
We do not ‘close’ a query after we put the phone down to you. When we speak to you, we will often remind you that you can call us back after a meeting or discussion we’ve advised you on.
Members often call us back to tell us how something went following our advice. We like you to do this. Hopefully things go well, but sometimes challenging situations are unforeseeable, and Members therefore often find it helpful to speak to us again.
Why do people contact the Service?
People get in touch with the Advice Service for a number of reasons, such as the following:
- Something has gone wrong and they want to know the best way to fix it.
- To get advice on a specific situation.
- To check something they have been told by someone else or read in guidance.
- To run an idea by us or to get a ‘second opinion’ on a situation.
- To seek advice or build an evidence base for a consultation, equality analysis, or other evidence gathering exercise.
- To request a connection to another Member to share ideas and challenges on a shared interest or practice.
Who is it for?
We provide a business-facing service. The Advice Service advises people who are working on behalf of our Member and Partner organisations. We regularly speak to people in the following roles:
- Human resources and diversity
- Line managers
- Customer services
- Disability and accessibility teams
- Estates, premises, and facilities
- Procurement and contract management
- Health and safety
- Recruitment and resourcing
We do not advise disabled individuals on their own difficulties and complaints; for example, if an employee has a grievance with a line manager, or a customer has complaint about a service.
Contact the Advice Service
The Advice Service operates between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday and is only available to Members and Partners. You can contact us by using the following details:
Address: Business Disability Forum, Nutmeg House, 60 Gainsford Street, London, SE1 2NY
Telephone: +44-20-7403-3020
Email: advice@businessdisabilityforum.org.uk
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