Finances

No activity is cost-free. How much money you will need to carry out your work will depend on:

• the actual work involved
• the number of people involved
• travel costs
• training costs
• and many other factors

You should be able to get advice from your local county voluntary council on budgeting. It may also be useful to contact other access groups to get an idea what their costs are and how they are met.

How the group is financed will depend partly on its status – that is, whether it is completely independent or a sub-group of a larger organisation. If your group is fortunate enough to secure funding support from the local authority or another organisation, you should plan the year’s activities based on these funds, with realistic objectives.

Other sources of funding include the Big Lottery Fund, which gives out grants for various amounts. If applying for a larger amount, your group would need to submit a Business Plan. A local bank manager may be able to give you help with this.

You will need to decide how funds are managed. You will need a Treasurer to coordinate accounts, but book-keeping and other support may be available from your local county voluntary council or other voluntary body.

Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII)

It is recommended that you take out PII for your group’s activities. This will cover your group if you are carrying out any work relating to a planning application or an audit.

Access groups that undertake audit and advice work and do not have insurance may be financially vulnerable if legal action is taken by a third party. You may not consider yourself a ‘professional’ group, but this will not exempt your group from being sued.

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) has increased demand for audit services to help businesses and service providers meet their duties under the legislation. Access Groups should seriously consider taking out PII if they offer an audit service, and should make sure the level of cover is adequate to cover the risk. PII is insurance taken out to cover professional activities and consultancy advice. It covers activities which may be either fee-earning or provided free of charge.

Consider the following scenario:
A client your group has worked with – say, a leisure centre – is sued under the DDA by a disabled customer who could not access the changing room. This takes place after an audit was carried out by your group. The advice in the audit did not adequately reflect best practice guidance, therefore the service provider did not make the right changes to the building.

When the disabled person wins the court case, and claims damages against the client. Can the leisure centre claim back these losses and pass on legal liability by suing your access group? Quite possibly.


Level of PII cover

The level of PII cover needed must cover claims made for loss and damage resulting from negligence. Both RICS and RIBA require a minimum level of £250,000 PII cover for their members; most practitioners hold significantly more. The level your group needs depends on the nature and scale of the work being undertaken. Insurers calculate premiums based on the risks they consider the practitioner faces when carrying out their work in relation to the likelihood of being sued for negligence.

The level of PII held should be based on a careful assessment of the risks involved. There is likely to be little point in someone with a turnover of £100,000 per annum holding £5million cover, for example.

Where to get PII cover

A good place to start is Advice UK (formerly FIAC), who can direct you to potential brokers.

Training

It is important that you consider ways of developing the skills and knowledge you will need to conduct the work of the access group. General training for community groups is available from local Councils for Voluntary Service who welcome membership from local community groups. For further information, visit the National Association for Voluntary and Community Action’s (NAVCA) website.

There are a number of organisations that offer training on access-related issues. Visit the training section of the National Register of Access Consultants’ (NRAC) website for further information.