Published: 6 September 2022
Our Head of Branch Network, Graham Binns, explains why we’ve worked with AccessAble to help our disabled members find out what they need to know before they visit us in a branch.
At Leeds Building Society, we pride ourselves on the service our members receive when they visit one of our branches. We want everyone to enjoy the experience of visiting us in-branch and spending time with our brilliant colleagues.
But we know that for those members with a disability, taking a trip to a branch isn’t always as straightforward as it is for others. Research shows that around 90% of customers with a disability will not even contemplate visiting a shop, cinema or other location if they don’t know what facilities or issues will be facing them ahead of their visit.
Working with AccessAble
That’s why we’ve teamed up with accessibility information provider AccessAble - to help our members with disabilities find the information they need to know before they take a trip to any of our branches.
Since 2020, AccessAble have been working with restaurants, hotels, cinemas and other venues to help make searching for information on accessible places easier.
Watch the video below for more insight on what AccessAble do.
Detailed Access guides
We worked with AccessAble to produce a Detailed Access Guide for each of our branches across the country. These guides give users detailed information on how accessible a place or venue is, based on facts, figures, and photographs.
This means for each of our branches, members can simply visit the relevant branch page and download the report before they visit. The reports let them know what access will be like when they visit a branch. It looks at the route they will use getting in, and what’s available inside.
To view a guide, use our branch finder and click “Check Branch Accessibility“.
Leeds Central branch
Accessibility is important to us
We know how important our branches are to our members – and it’s important to me to make them accessible for all. My team and colleagues across the Society are taking action to fix issues identified by the reports and where possible, we’re planning in any improvements.
As well as commissioning the AccessAble reports, we’ve recently installed hearing loops in all branches, to help those customers with hearing difficulties.
We’re also looking at a range of additional things we can do to make our branches as accessible as possible.
We’re not there yet, but I’m proud of what we’ve done so far in this area. We’ll share more details on our progress very soon.
