Reasonable Adjustments at Work - Employer Guide to the Equality Act Duty

The duty to make reasonable adjustments is one of the most important and most frequently misunderstood obligations in UK employment law. It requires employers to change how they work so that disabled employees and job applicants are not placed at a substantial disadvantage compared with everyone else.

The duty comes from the Equality Act 2010, section 20, and failing to comply with it is a form of unlawful discrimination in its own right. With MPs pressing employers to respond faster and more consistently to adjustment requests, getting this right is both a legal and a practical priority.

This guide explains who the duty protects, what it covers, when it applies and how to meet it.

Who the Duty Protects

The duty applies to disabled people, both employees and job applicants. A person is disabled under the Equality Act if they have a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

"Substantial" means more than minor or trivial, and "long-term" generally means the effect has lasted, or is likely to last, at least 12 months. Some conditions, such as cancer, HIV and multiple sclerosis, are treated as a disability from the point of diagnosis. The definition is broad, and many employees who would not describe themselves as disabled are nonetheless covered.

What the Duty Covers

The reasonable adjustments duty has three distinct limbs. An employer must take reasonable steps to avoid the disadvantage caused by each of the following:

• Provisions, criteria and practices. The way things are normally done, such as working hours, attendance policies, or how a role is structured, where these put a disabled person at a substantial disadvantage.
• Physical features. The physical environment, such as steps, doorways, lighting or workstation layout, where these create a barrier.
• Auxiliary aids. The provision of equipment or support, such as assistive software, a screen reader, or a British Sign Language interpreter, where this would remove a disadvantage.

The aim in every case is to remove or reduce the barrier so that the disabled person can do the job, or take part in the recruitment process, on a fair footing.

When the Duty Applies

In the employment context, the duty is triggered when the employer knows, or could reasonably be expected to know, that a person is disabled and is likely to be placed at a substantial disadvantage. This is sometimes described as constructive knowledge.

An employer cannot simply avoid the duty by not asking. If the signs of a disability are apparent, for example through a pattern of absence, a fit note, or what an employee has said, the employer is expected to make reasonable enquiries. Burying its head in the sand is not a defence.

The duty applies throughout the employment relationship: in recruitment, during employment, in managing absence and performance, and in handling a return to work. It is most often litigated around absence management and dismissal, where an employer has failed to adjust before acting.

What Counts as Reasonable

The law does not require every possible adjustment, only those that are reasonable. Whether an adjustment is reasonable depends on a range of factors, and the test is objective.

• How effective the adjustment would be in removing the disadvantage.
• How practicable it is to make.
• The financial and other costs, and the disruption involved.
• The employer's resources and size.
• The availability of external help, such as the government's Access to Work scheme.

A large, well-resourced employer is generally expected to do more than a very small one, but cost alone is rarely a complete answer, particularly where the adjustment is inexpensive. The employee must never be asked to pay for an adjustment.

Adjustments Are Not Just Physical

A common misconception is that reasonable adjustments are mainly about ramps and equipment. In practice, the most frequent and most contested adjustments concern how rules are applied, particularly around attendance, performance and working patterns.

Adjusting an absence trigger so that disability-related absence is treated differently, allowing a later start to avoid rush-hour travel, or changing how a performance target is measured can all be reasonable adjustments. Mental health conditions, neurodiversity and fluctuating conditions often call for these process adjustments rather than physical ones, and they are where managers most often go wrong by applying a blanket policy.

Common Reasonable Adjustments

Adjustments are usually practical and low-cost. Common examples include:

• A phased return to work after a period of absence.
• Flexible or altered working hours, or a change of shift pattern.
• Allowing time off for medical appointments and treatment.
• Reallocating minor or non-essential duties to another worker.
• Providing specialist equipment, software or furniture.
• Modifying premises, such as installing a ramp or improving lighting.
• Providing information in accessible formats.
• Adjusting how performance or attendance is managed for a disability-related reason.

The ACAS guidance on reasonable adjustments gives further practical examples, and the EHRC guidance on workplace adjustments sets out the legal framework employers are expected to follow.

What Happens If You Get It Wrong

Failure to make a reasonable adjustment is unlawful disability discrimination. An employee can bring a claim in the employment tribunal, and unlike ordinary unfair dismissal, compensation for discrimination is not capped.

Awards can include loss of earnings and an additional sum for injury to feelings, which is set by reference to established bands. Where a dismissal follows a failure to adjust, the employer can face linked claims for discrimination arising from disability and unfair dismissal at the same time. The reputational cost of a discrimination finding is significant on top of the financial one.

The EHRC Employment Statutory Code of Practice is the benchmark a tribunal will use. It is not law in itself, but tribunals must take it into account, so an employer who has followed it is in a far stronger position than one who has not.

How to Handle a Request Well

Most claims arise not because an adjustment was impossible, but because the employer handled the request poorly: slowly, defensively, or without proper consideration. A clear process prevents this.

1. Respond promptly. Treat an adjustment request seriously and act on it without unnecessary delay. Slow responses are a frequent source of complaint.
2. Have a conversation. Discuss the barrier with the employee, who usually knows best what would help. Do not assume.
3. Seek advice where needed. Use occupational health or Access to Work to identify suitable adjustments, but remember the decision and the duty remain the employer's.
4. Consider each adjustment on its merits. If one is not reasonable, consider whether another would work, rather than rejecting the request outright.
5. Put it in writing and review it. Record what has been agreed, implement it, and review it as circumstances change.

Access to Work and External Support

Employers do not have to identify or fund every adjustment alone. The government's Access to Work scheme can provide grants towards the cost of specialist equipment, support workers and adaptations, which is particularly useful for smaller employers.

Access to Work funding does not remove the employer's legal duty, and it does not cover everything, but it changes the reasonableness assessment. Where external funding is available, an adjustment that might otherwise be considered too costly becomes reasonable, so employers should factor it into their thinking rather than rejecting an adjustment on cost grounds first.

A Worked Example

An employee develops a long-term back condition and returns from absence with a fit note recommending reduced lifting and a phased return. The employer's attendance policy would ordinarily trigger a formal warning at the employee's level of absence.

Meeting the duty means adjusting the attendance trigger so the disability-related absence is treated differently, agreeing a phased return in writing, reallocating the lifting element of the role, and reviewing an adjustable workstation. Applying the standard attendance policy unchanged, and warning or dismissing the employee, is where a discrimination claim begins. The adjustments are modest; the cost of getting it wrong is not.

The Reasonable Adjustment Passport

A growing number of employers use a reasonable adjustment passport, a written record of the adjustments agreed with an individual. It travels with the employee through changes of manager or role, so the adjustments do not have to be renegotiated each time.

A passport reduces the risk of agreed adjustments being lost when a line manager changes, which is a common and avoidable cause of disputes. It also evidences that the employer has met its duty, which is valuable if a claim is later made.

How Policy Pros Can Help

The reasonable adjustments duty is best met through a clear, consistent process that managers actually follow. The risk lies in ad hoc, undocumented decisions made under pressure.

Policy Pros writes the policies that put that process in place, covering disability in the workplace, adjustment requests, and the manager guidance that turns the duty into day-to-day practice. These sit within your wider HR policies and procedures and connect to managing mental health at work, since mental health conditions are an increasingly common basis for adjustments.

Reasonable adjustments also link closely to absence and return-to-work management. See our sickness and sick pay policies and our fit note reform employer guide, where adjustments are central to a sustainable return to work.