When does an employer have to make reasonable adjustments for a disabled worker?

## The short answer

In the UK, an employer has a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments when it knows, or could reasonably be expected to know, that a person is disabled and is placed at a substantial disadvantage by a workplace provision, criterion, practice, a physical feature, or a lack of an auxiliary aid. The duty applies to job applicants and employees alike. Crucially, the employer pays for the adjustment, and failing to consider one can amount to disability discrimination even if no one ever formally requested it. The threshold for triggering the duty is lower than many employers assume.

## Who counts as disabled

The legal definition is broad. A person is disabled 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 lasting, or likely to last, at least a year. This captures many conditions employers do not immediately think of, including some mental health conditions, fluctuating conditions, and conditions that are well controlled by medication.

Some conditions are treated as disabilities from diagnosis. The point for employers is that the definition is far wider than visible physical impairments.

## When the duty is triggered

The duty arises when three elements come together:

- The person is disabled within the legal meaning.

- Something about the workplace — a practice, a physical feature, or a missing aid — puts them at a substantial disadvantage compared with people who are not disabled.

- The employer knows or ought reasonably to know about the disability.

That last point matters. An employer cannot bury its head in the sand. If there are clear signs — patterns of absence, a manager being told informally, occupational health reports — the employer may be fixed with constructive knowledge even without a formal disclosure.

## What "reasonable" means

There is no closed list of adjustments, but common examples include:

- Changing working hours or allowing flexible or hybrid working.

- Adjusting duties or reallocating minor tasks.

- Providing specialist equipment or software.

- Modifying premises, such as accessible parking or ramps.

- Allowing additional breaks or a phased return after illness.

- Adjusting absence triggers so that disability-related absence is treated differently.

Whether an adjustment is reasonable depends on factors such as how effective it would be in removing the disadvantage, how practical it is, the cost, and the size and resources of the employer. Cost alone rarely justifies doing nothing; a larger organisation is expected to do more than a very small one.

## The process matters as much as the outcome

Employers who get into difficulty often do so not because the perfect adjustment was impossible, but because they never properly explored the options. Best practice is to:

- Have an open conversation with the individual about what would help.

- Seek medical or occupational health input where useful.

- Consider each suggested adjustment on its merits rather than dismissing them generally.

- Keep a written record of what was considered, what was implemented, and why anything was rejected.

- Review adjustments over time, especially for fluctuating conditions.

## Common mistakes

- Waiting for a formal request when the signs of disadvantage are already obvious.

- Treating disability-related absence the same as any other absence under attendance policies.

- Rejecting an adjustment as "unfair to others" rather than assessing its reasonableness.

- Assuming a condition is too minor to qualify without checking the legal test.

- Failing to document the thought process, leaving nothing to evidence good faith later.

## Recruitment counts too

The duty applies before anyone is hired. Adjustments to application forms, assessment methods, and interview arrangements all fall within it. Asking candidates whether they need adjustments for the interview is both good practice and a simple way to surface needs early.

## Managing this consistently

The risk for larger employers is inconsistency: one manager handles a request well, another dismisses it, and the organisation ends up exposed by its weakest link. Recording adjustment conversations, decisions, and reviews in one place — so that they survive a manager moving on and can be evidenced if challenged — is a practical safeguard. Neart.ai builds enterprise-grade HR and payroll products designed to keep this kind of sensitive case record consistent and auditable across an organisation.

## Practical takeaway

Treat the duty as proactive, not reactive. If you have any reason to think someone is disabled and disadvantaged, start the conversation, explore adjustments genuinely, and document your reasoning. The cheapest and safest course is almost always to engage early — far cheaper than defending a discrimination claim built on a request you ignored.