Treating a person less favourably because they have a disability has been unlawful since 1996.

Businesses with less than 15 employees are currently exempt from the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act. This is set to change from October 2004.

A Regulatory Impact Assessment by the Government estimates that the changes to the Disability Discrimination Act will cost each small firm an average of £5.50.

The total cost to small businesses in the UK will be about £6 million. Of this, £3.9 million is a one-off cost while £2.1 million is a recurring cost. This includes £0.7 million for recruitment.

The cost does not take into account the many benefits that employers can gain from employing and retaining people with disabilities such as access to a wide pool of applicants and retention of skills and knowledge.

There are approximately 1,087,000 businesses with between one and 15 employees in the UK. Within these businesses, there are around 382,000 employees with disabilities who will be protected from discrimination by the DDA's ammendments.

Other changes to the act will end a number of employment and occupational exclusions such as the police, firefighters and partners in business partnerships.