Reasonable adjustments
What are reasonable adjustments?
A reasonable adjustment is a change or changes to an employee’s work environment, working arrangements, or equipment that removes or reduces a disadvantage related to a disability, mental health condition, or long-term health condition.
The Equality Act 2010 places a duty on employers to make reasonable adjustments to ensure staff with disabilities, or physical or mental health conditions, are not substantially disadvantaged when doing their jobs.
Examples of reasonable adjustments that may be considered include, but are not limited to:
- Adaptations to working hours/pattern, flexible working or home-working when required
- Adaptations to work environment, such as changing desk location or different types of lighting
- Purchase or modification of specialised equipment
- Reallocation of duties
- In very few cases, redeployment.
For examples of reasonable adjustments for specific conditions, please see the Reasonable Adjustments entry on the Manager Wellbeing Directory (via Moodle).
To help with recording reasonable adjustments, we have created a Reasonable Adjustments Passport (.docx), more information is below.
Who can apply for reasonable adjustments?
Anyone is allowed to ask for adjustments to be put in place, before or after starting employment. A job candidate can request changes to assist them when applying for a role, or an employee if they need assistance in performing their job and sustaining their wellbeing. If adjustments are already in place and there are changes to their disability/long term health condition which start to affect their ability to perform their role, further adjustments can be considered.
How to agree and implement reasonable adjustments
Adjustments can be put in place by the relevant manager following a conversation with an employee, or recommended by an Employee Relations Adviser (ERA) or by Occupational Health following a referral.
Communication at an early stage will be essential to identify what adjustments may be required to assist in performing their role. In some cases, this may be a simple adaptation such as a footstool or specific type of mouse for computer work. In others, this may not be so clear, or the adjustments required are more complex.
Where there is an underlying medical issue or more complex adjustments are needed, an Occupational Health (OH) referral is recommended. Following this, the employee will have an appointment with an Occupational Health Adviser (OHA), who will recommend if any adjustments are required (temporary or permanent) for the staff member to undertake their role. Long term adjustments can be recorded using the Reasonable Adjustments Passport.
Who determines whether an adjustment is ‘reasonable’?
What is ‘reasonable’ will depend on the circumstances of each case.
Relevant factors can include:
- Cost of the adjustment
- Resources available to fund the adjustment
- Practicality of implementing the adjustment
- Effectiveness in removing or reducing any disadvantage due to the health condition
Who is responsible for paying for reasonable adjustments?
Not all adjustments will have a cost, for example if an employee needs to change their start and end working time but still do the same number of hours overall, this is a cost-free reasonable adjustment.
Where costs will be incurred, such as specific equipment recommendations, the OHA will state in their report whether this will need to be funded by the department, or if it is covered by our reasonable adjustment budget. The reasonable adjustment budget is held by us (OH) and used when the long-term condition or disability fits the criteria of the Equality Act.
The report may also recommend applying for additional support for funding of adjustments via Access to Work (AtW), which is a government fund run by the Department for Work and Pensions to support people with disabilities to remain in employment.
Equipment required for reasons that do not fall under the Equality Act 2010 will need to be covered from the respective department’s budget. Many common items, such as ergonomic mice, wrist rests and foot stools, can be purchased internally through DITS or Central Stores.
If assistance is needed to source an item, please consult your department's DSE facilitator or HSLO/DHSO.
Reasonable Adjustments Passport
We have created a Reasonable Adjustment Passport, (.docx) which is a record of reasonable adjustments agreed between an employee and their line manager. The passport acts as a live document about agreed changes in the workplace. It also means that if the employee changes role or line manager, they have a formal record of what has been agreed.
It is not a requirement to use the passport, and the decision to do so should be with the employee. If it is used, it is to be primarily completed by the employee, who should have control over the level of detail regarding any personal information. Access to the document must be limited to the employee, their line manager, and Occupational Health, unless the employee has given consent.
Who owns equipment provided as a reasonable adjustment?
Equipment purchased as a reasonable adjustment is the property of the purchasing department.
If the equipment is no longer required or the user leaves the University, please ensure it is returned.
For equipment bought departmentally:
- Employees moving departments are allowed to take equipment with them at the discretion of the purchasing department.
- Reclaiming equipment is the responsibility of the owning department. If not needed by the department, please contact Occupational Health as it may be passed to another employee.
For equipment bought by Occupational Health:
- Employees moving departments are allowed to take their assigned equipment with them.
- If equipment is no longer required or the employee leaves the University, please inform Occupational Health to ensure it is returned. Returned equipment will be kept and redeployed to other employees as appropriate.
- Replacement of faulty or broken equipment is at the discretion of the Occupational Health clinicians.
Please note this may not apply to equipment purchased as part of an Access to Work grant.
