Skipton & BDF create toolkit to improve accessibility

Skipton Building Society has teamed up with the Business Disability Forum (BDF) to create a toolkit dedicated to improving accessibility needs. The toolkit aims to improve communications between businesses, colleagues and customers across all industries, taking into account accessibility needs. It was created after Skipton began its journey to become the most accessible building society in the country, but struggled to find supportive resources for guidance. 

So Skipton approached BDF to explore the possibilities of creating something bigger to support the forum’s entire membership and partnership network. The new toolkit provides a series of insightful resources that will enable businesses to improve their communications across their channels and ensure they are catering to the needs of their audience. Resources include easily accessible advice, making small print accessible, best practise case studies, blogs and videos, standards and guidance, and much more.

ACCESSIBLE COMMUNICATION

Commenting on the toolkit, Craig Goold, Head of Customer Experience at Skipton Building Society, stated: “It has been a fantastic opportunity to be able to support the Business Disability Forum in creating a series of resources that will enable customers to really engage with businesses in a way that they may have never been able to previously.The importance of accessible communications continues to rise, and it has become even more crucial during the current Covid-19 pandemic. The needs of businesses and customers are rapidly changing in order to cater for an unpredictable environment and digital communications is becoming one of the most important tools at our disposal. We hope these resources will support us and any business who is looking to review their accessibility in their communications.”

According to Goold, internal research at Skipton revealed that almost 50% of its customers identified that they have some kind of accessibility requirement. “As a business, it is our responsibility and is absolutely the right thing to do to ensure that we are reaching these customers with clear and accessible communications,” he pointed out.

PRACTICAL RESOURCE

Adding to his comments, Diane Lightfoot, CEO of the Business Disability Forum stated: “We would like to thank Skipton Building Society for recognising the importance of inclusive communication to disabled customers and colleagues and sponsoring this toolkit. We hope the resources in the toolkit will provide practical advice for organisations on including disabled people in their communications.

“Some disabled customers and colleagues experience particular barriers when it comes to accessing and processing information. It is the responsibility of organisations to remove these obstacles and make their products and services accessible to everyone. With the annual spending power of disabled people estimated to be £249 billion, it is not only the right thing to do, but it also makes good business sense.”