What are Reasonable Adjustments?

Let me start by asking you have you heard of ‘Reasonable Adjustments’? If so, do you know what it means?

It is a fairly recent concept, in that the duty to make Reasonable Adjustments to improve access for disabled people in the workplace and to gain employment was first introduced in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 –less than 30 years ago. The Act also covered disabled people’s access to goods and services, education, transport and accommodation.

So what is a reasonable adjustment?

A reasonable adjustment is a change that an employer or organization makes to remove or reduce a disadvantage for a disabled person. Reasonable adjustments can be made to a person's working conditions, environment or job application process. They can also be made to the physical features of a building or public function.

All employers have a legal duty under the Equality Act 2010 to proactively make reasonable adjustments to remove, reduce or prevent any disadvantages that disabled workers face.

The law recognises that, to secure equality for disabled people, work may need to be structured differently, support given and barriers removed. It means that in certain circumstances disabled people may be treated more favourably than non-disabled people to ensure equality, but one disabled person cannot be treated more favourably than another disabled person.

What is the duty placed on the employer?

To explain the duty placed on the employer by the Equality Act 2010 I can do no better than quote the guidance provided by the EHRC (Equalities and Human Rights Commission):

“The duty contains three requirements that apply in situations where a disabled person would otherwise be placed at a substantial disadvantage compared with people who are not disabled.

The first requirement involves changing the way things are done (equality law talks about where the disabled job worker is put at a substantial disadvantage by a provision, criterion or practice of their employer).

Example: An employer has a policy that designated car parking spaces are only offered to senior managers. A worker who is not a manager, but has a mobility impairment and needs to park very close to the office, is given a designated car parking space. This is likely to be a reasonable adjustment to the employer's car parking policy.

The second requirement involves making changes to overcome barriers created by the physical features of your workplace.

Example: Clear glass doors at the end of a corridor in a particular workplace present a hazard for a visually impaired worker. Adding stick-on signs or other indicators to the doors so that they become more visible is likely to be a reasonable adjustment for the employer to make.

The third requirement involves providing extra equipment (which equality law calls an auxiliary aid) or getting someone to do something to assist the disabled person (which equality law calls an auxiliary service).

Example: An employer provides specialist software for a member of staff who develops a visual impairment and whose job involves using a computer.”

An employer who fails to meet their legal duty under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments is in breach of the law and could be taken to an employment tribunal.

Public sector employers have an additional legal duty to consider or think about how their policies or decisions affect people who are protected under the Equality Act. This public sector equality duty will include public authorities considering how their policies affect disabled employees, and taking steps to mitigate any adverse impact.

Reasonable Adjustment Disability Passports

In 2018 the GMB trade union brought a motion to the TUC Congress in September of that year, which called for the creation of “reasonable adjustments disability passports”.

Subsequently, the TUC worked with its Disabled Workers Committee and the GMB and its disabled workers and activists to create the Reasonable Adjustments Passport which was publically launched in February 2019.

In drawing up the Reasonable Adjustments Passport, the TUC consulted its affiliates, as well as the Equality and Human Rights Commission, to try and ensure that the passport meets the needs of disabled members.

The TUC and GMB Reasonable Adjustment Disability Passports guide and model agreement can be found by following this link https://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/Reasonable_Adjustments_Disability_Passports_2019_WIP5_Model_Agreement%20secure.pdf

The Reasonable Adjustments Disability Passport is a live record of agreed adjustments between the disabled worker and their manager to support them at work due to a health condition, impairment or disability. It is for them to keep and pass on to anyone they think needs to know about any impact or issue that can arise due to the interaction between their condition or impairment and barriers within or outside the workplace that can affect them at work.

The purpose of the passport is to:

• make sure that everyone is clear and has a record of what adjustments have been agreed

• reduce the need to reassess adjustments every time you change jobs, are relocated or are assigned a new manager

• provide you and your manager with the basis for future conversations about adjustments

What’s the problem?

You may think that, with the legal duty placed on employers by the Equality Act 201 to make these reasonable adjustments for disabled employees and the introduction of Reasonable Adjustment Disability Passports, everything is looking great for disabled workers

It should be, but the reality is quite different in that not all employers are keen to support their disabled workers and some, having undertaken an assessment of the reasonable adjustments that a disabled worker requires then refuse to implement those reasonable adjustments.

So the problem is that the only means open to a disabled worker to try and compel the employer to implement the identified reasonable adjustments is to take them to an Employment Tribunal. That could take a very long time. Currently you can wait anywhere between six months and a year to get a hearing date and some cases are currently being scheduled for 2026.

It is possible that, through registering your case with the Employment Tribunal and the use of the ACAS Early Mediation Service, the employer will relent and implement the identified reasonable adjustments. Even if they do, this could be anywhere up to six months after they refused to implement your reasonable adjustment.

If your case goes to an Employment Tribunal then you can add at least another six months. At the time of writing, some cases are currently having hearing dates scheduled in 2026, over a year away.

The second problem is what do you do whilst you are waiting for your case to be listed with the Employment Tribunal and a hearing date scheduled?

Are you expected to struggle on in your job without the reasonable adjustments?

Will your employer seek to ‘manage’ you out of the organisation through saying that you are not performing your job to the required standard, even though they have not implemented the ‘reasonable adjustments’ that you require?

You may be able to take them to an Employment Tribunal for a second case of unfair dismissal. But is that what you actually want?

I think the answer is NO because you are hopefully, in a job you enjoy and you just want to be given the support you need to do your job and progress your career. So how do we achieve this?

I think that we need to have a mediation service who’s decisions are legally enforceable and that are able to deal with any case submitted to them within 28 days or four working weeks

Please tell me how you think that we should enforce the implementation of reasonable adjustment through putting your ideas and suggestions in the comment box below.