Improving access for disabled people at festivals

Improving access for disabled people at festivals. 

There were many media reports of accessibility issues at Wireless Festival in 2022 and Download Festival in 2023. Live Nation runs these festivals.

Disabled people who attended the festival reported problems with being able to see the stage, a lack of accessible toilets and event staff who questioned their disabilities. 

The Equality Act 2010 requires service providers, such as festival operators, to make anticipatory reasonable adjustments for disabled people. This means they must anticipate what adjustments could be needed by customers with different types of disability, support and access needs.

As the regulator for equality law in Britain, we can take enforcement action against service providers, such as festival operators, where we think that they have breached equality law. This unique role means we can ensure that organisations like Live Nation understand their obligations to anticipate reasonable adjustments and secure long-lasting impact for disabled festival goers.  

In November 2023, we used our enforcement powers to enter a legally binding section 23 agreement with Live Nation and ensure it made accessibility improvements at its festivals.

As part of the section 23 agreement, we required a series of improvements from the festival organisers to its access provisions. They implemented measures designed to achieve these positive systemic changes including:

• enhanced accessibility guides at all festivals so disabled fans can find event-specific accessibility information
• policies and guidelines that ensure accessibility is embedded at every stage of a fan’s journey for all festivals
• an audit of all festival websites and apps to make sure they meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
• compulsory, organisation-wide disability awareness and inclusion training with accessibility experts
• a mystery shopper system where disabled participants attend selected festivals and assess the accessible facilities available
• sensory calm spaces at all festivals
• distribution of post-event surveys to disabled fans
• using post-event survey analysis to inform planning for future festivals

After monitoring its activity for the past two years, we were content that Live Nation has met the terms of its legal agreement with us and concluded it.