Guidance

How to apply for Inclusive Transport Committed accreditation

Updated 23 March 2020

Inclusive Transport Committed accreditation

There are 3 levels of accreditation in the Inclusive Transport Leaders Scheme:

• Inclusive Transport Committed
• Inclusive Transport Operator
• Inclusive Transport Leader

Each of these accreditation levels represents a step on the journey to becoming a leader in inclusive travel.

Inclusive Transport Committed accreditations last for one year. You may choose to apply for a higher level of accreditation before this time period has elapsed, if you feel that you are able to demonstrate the required progress. If you reach the end of the one year period without progressing, you will need to reapply for accreditation.

Once you’ve read this guidance, apply for Inclusive Transport Committed accreditation.

Inclusive Transport Committed criteria

To be recognised as Inclusive Transport Committed, you must lay foundations for a more accessible service provision in the long-term. You will do this by fulfilling the criteria listed below.

Assign responsibility for accessibility at senior levels of governance and management

In order to ensure that accessibility issues are being addressed at the most senior levels of governance and management, you must have have designated a member of your board of directors and/or a senior manager as accountable for accessibility and disabled passengers’ travelling experience.

Read a case study about Brighton and Hove Buses who have employed an Accessibility and Communities Manager.

Deliver disability equalities training to staff, including senior management

You must demonstrate that, within the last 2 years, you have provided your staff with disability equalities training, covering at least the following:

• awareness of and appropriate responses to passengers with physical, sensory (hearing and visual), cognitive or learning impairments, including non-visible impairments
• barriers faced by disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility, including emotional, environmental and physical barriers
• the role and needs of assistance dogs
• interpersonal and communication skills, focusing on the needs of disabled passengers
• appropriate responses to passengers’ use of assistance cards and equivalent tools

You must be able to demonstrate that the training has been:

• undertaken by all frontline staff who have been in post for 3 months or more
• undertaken by at least 80% of managerial staff, including senior managers responsible for design projects and/or the acquisition of new vehicles
• developed and delivered in partnership with disabled people

You must also:

• demonstrate that you have established proportionate means of monitoring and evaluating the impact of this training on the ‘disability confidence’ of staff and, where possible, the travelling experiences of disabled people
• commit to refreshing this training every 2 years

Establish a proactive approach to ensuring disabled passengers’ rights are fulfilled

You must be able to demonstrate a proactive approach to ensuring that disabled passengers’ rights are fulfilled. This proactive approach must include:

• steps to ensure that disabled people are aware of their rights as passengers, which may include improvements to signposting and/or online information
• the establishment of an accessible and easy-to-use complaints system, whereby customers are guaranteed a time by which they can expect a response that indicates how the complaint will be handled
• steps to ensure that customers are aware of the complaints system, which may include improvements to signposting and/or online information
• steps to ensure that, as part of the complaints system, complaints relating to accessibility are classified and recorded as such (thus allowing operators to better understand the accessibility of their services and address thematic issues arising from accessibility-related complaints data)
• the establishment of proportionate means of monitoring the impact of your approach on disabled passengers’ travelling experience

Publish a web content accessibility statement, in line with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1

Using Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, you must review your website or app for accessibility problems, make a plan to fix any accessibility problems you find (unless it would be a disproportionate burden to do so) and publish an accessibility statement to explain how accessible your website or app is.

Your statement needs to cover:

• whether your website or app is ‘fully’, ‘partially’ or ‘not’ compliant with accessibility standards
• if it’s not fully compliant, which parts of your website or app do not currently meet accessibility standards and why (for example, because it would be a disproportionate burden to fix things)

Read:

• more information about information about WCAG 2.1 level AA
• a Checklist of WCAG 2.1 level AA requirements

Commit to involving disabled people in all future design projects/vehicle acquisitions

You must commit to taking proportionate steps to ensure that disabled people are involved in the planning, development and implementation of all future projects that could affect physical accessibility.

For guidance, relevant projects include any changes to the ways in which customers use transport infrastructure or vehicles, such as:

• the installation of new signage around transport vehicles, stations or ports
• the installation of new equipment on board vehicles or at stations or ports
• the acquisition of new vehicles
• building projects at stations or ports

The steps you could take to engage with disabled people during this process may include:

• working with members of your customer panel, accessibility forum etc.
• consulting local and national groups that represent disabled people
• working with accredited access consultants

Find out more about engaging with disabled people in the Inclusive Transport Leaders Scheme.

Proactively engage with disabled people, leading to an action that improves accessibility

You must be able to demonstrate that, within the last 2 years, you have engaged with disabled people in order to:

• identify at least one action you could take to improve the accessibility of your services (in any area)
• test and implement this change effectively
• review the impact of the change, showing that it has improved the travelling experiences of disabled people

Find out more about engaging with disabled people in the Inclusive Transport Leaders Scheme.

What happens next

Once you’ve read this guidance, you can apply for Inclusive Transport Committed accreditation.

On your application form, you will be asked to supply evidence demonstrating your fulfilment of the above criteria.

Once you have submitted your form, we will review your application and notify you of the outcome within the timeframe stated.