Mobile phone and internet service providers that fail to take accessibility for disabled users into account are losing out on an estimated £500m a year in revenues, according to a new study by the Business Disability Forum.

The report, carried out in collaboration with Scope and the Extra Costs Commission, looked into the financial implications of failing to meet the needs of disabled customers. Among the reports findings was the news that 75 per cent of disabled consuemrs and their families have walked away from retailers or businesses as a result of a lack of disability awareness.

Almost 12m people in the UK live with disability, with a combined spending power of over £200bn. Overall, the lost revenues to businesses and retailers due to inaccessible products and services top £20bn a year, with mobile specifically losing out on around £44m a month due to poor disability awareness.

13.3 per cent of disabled people and 6.3 per cent of parents and carers have abandoned mobile phone or internet providers due to problems, with the number rising as high as 30 per cent for people with behavioural impairments and 23 per cent for those with memory or sensory impairments.

As well as losing money from disabled customers and their carers, businesses that fail to make their products accessible and ensure staff are aware of disabled customers needs risk losing out on the custom of the friends and family of disabled consumers too. 43 per cent of those surveyed by the report said that friends or family had left a business due to poor disability understanding, with this reaching up to 50 per cent for those with sensory impairments.

“This report has found that nearly 1.1m disabled people in the UK have walked away from a mobile phone or internet provider because of poor disability awareness and understanding,” said George Selvanera, director of policy, services and communications at the Business Disability Forum.

“People often ask me how they can improve their companys products and services for disabled customers. As a first point of action, businesses should ensure their customer facing staff are skilled and confident in interacting with customers with different disabilities and impairments. This certainly includes people with visible disabilities such as mobility and visual impairments, but its also about customer facing staff having the skills with customers with non-visible disabilities such as dementia and mental ill health.

“In short, it is about building into mainstream service design, empathy for the disabled and older customer, and the capacity to personalise services for customers with all types of disabilities.”

Mobile devices can prove an essential tool for those with disabilities, providing them with the ability to contact carers or support services while out and about, and use apps designed to make everyday life easier, as well as make use of all the usual functions like social networking, messaging and browsing the web.

By not considering the needs of such a huge section of the population, businesses are risking losing out on valuable customers and revenues, and more importantly failing in their duty to provide for all members of society equally.