Reasonable adjustments are not a general right to any preferred working arrangement. The duty is focused on removing or reducing substantial disadvantage connected with disability, and what is reasonable depends on the circumstances.
Use this guide to separate the facts, the legal route and the practical remedy. Workplace disputes often involve more than one right, so keep each strand distinct.
Key points
- Identify the exact decision, event or omission before choosing a legal label.
- Ask who made the decision and which employer policy, contract term or statutory rule is relied on.
- Preserve contemporaneous evidence and the employer’s reasons before memories and records change.
- Protect Acas and tribunal time limits even while an internal process is continuing.
Diagnosis
First: what exactly happened?
Work out which route fits the facts before deciding what to ask the employer to do. Similar workplace problems can use different legal tests.
| What happened? | What to check |
|---|---|
| A workplace rule or practice disadvantages you because of disability | Identify the provision, criterion or practice and the substantial disadvantage it creates. |
| A physical feature creates a barrier | Consider physical alterations, access arrangements or alternative ways of working. |
| You need an auxiliary aid, equipment or support | Identify the aid and explain how it addresses the disadvantage. |
| The employer says it did not know you were disabled | Consider what the employer actually knew or reasonably ought to have known, including absence records or occupational-health information. |
Who is responsible?
The employer is responsible for its own employment decisions and processes, even where HR, payroll, occupational health, an external investigator or software supplier is involved. Identify the actual decision-maker and the legal entity that employs you.
Managers and HR may administer a process, but outsourcing advice or relying on a policy does not transfer away the employer’s legal responsibility.
Start with the disadvantage, not the adjustment
Describe the barrier first. Then explain how the proposed adjustment would remove or reduce it. This makes the request easier to assess and avoids turning the discussion into a yes/no argument about one preferred solution.
Medical evidence and occupational health
Medical evidence can help explain functional effects and likely adjustments, but occupational health does not make the legal decision. The employer remains responsible for considering what is reasonable.
Cost and practicality
Reasonableness can involve effectiveness, practicability, cost, disruption, resources and available support. A bare statement that an adjustment is “not possible” should be tested against the actual reason.
Adjustment versus flexible-working request
A disability-related change can engage the Equality Act even where a statutory flexible-working request has been refused. The legal tests are different.
Start by identifying the type of treatment and the legal comparison.
Discrimination law is fact-specific. Direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment, victimisation and failures concerning reasonable adjustments use different legal tests. Avoid treating every unfair act as the same type of discrimination.
Reasonable adjustments are about removing disability-related disadvantage.
Where the duty applies, the question is not whether an employer has made any change at all, but whether reasonable steps have been taken to avoid the relevant substantial disadvantage. What is reasonable depends on the circumstances.
- Identify the workplace provision, physical feature or lack of auxiliary aid causing the disadvantage.
- Explain the disadvantage in practical terms.
- Propose adjustments where you can, but the legal analysis is not limited to the exact wording of your proposal.
- Keep occupational-health reports, adjustment requests, responses and review notes.
Build the evidence around facts, not assumptions.
Keep the treatment complained of, who made the decision, what reason was given, comparators where relevant, and the chronology of knowledge and requests. If the employer gives changing explanations, preserve each version rather than paraphrasing it.
Internal and external routes can run in parallel.
A grievance can be used internally, but tribunal time limits still need separate attention. The Equality Advisory and Support Service can provide information on discrimination, and Acas is central to early conciliation for tribunal claims.
Reasonable adjustments can overlap with other discrimination claims.
A failure-to-adjust claim can sit alongside discrimination arising from disability, indirect discrimination, harassment or victimisation depending on the facts. Do not force every disability dispute into one category.
Deadline warning.
A long-running failure to adjust can create difficult questions about when the tribunal time limit starts. Internal discussion does not automatically stop time. From 1 October 2026 most newly starting tribunal limits become six months minus one day; older periods may remain under the current three-month-minus-one-day rule.
Make the request evidentially useful.
- Describe the workplace requirement or feature causing the disadvantage.
- Explain the functional impact rather than disclosing more medical detail than necessary.
- Propose one or more workable adjustments and why they would help.
- Provide relevant medical/OH evidence where useful.
- Ask for reasons if an adjustment is refused and whether alternatives were considered.
- Set a review date for temporary or trial adjustments.
Keep the request, meeting notes, decision and review record. If the employer agrees an adjustment, confirm who is responsible for implementing it so the adjustment does not exist only on paper.
Reasonableness is specific to the proposed adjustment.
Factors can include effectiveness, practicability, cost, disruption, the employer’s resources and available assistance. “We do not do that for anyone” is not a complete answer, because the purpose of an adjustment is often to treat a disabled person differently in order to remove disadvantage.
| Employer response | What to test |
|---|---|
| “Occupational Health did not recommend it.” | OH evidence can help, but who made the legal/business decision and were alternative adjustments considered? |
| “It is against policy.” | What disadvantage does the policy create, and can the policy be adjusted in this case? |
| “It costs too much.” | What is the actual cost, what resources are relevant, and was Access to Work or another funding route considered where applicable? |
| “You never told us you were disabled.” | What did the employer actually know, and what could it reasonably have been expected to know? |
The duty is triggered by disadvantage, not by a magic form of words.
Reasonable adjustments are changes designed to remove or reduce disability-related disadvantage. The duty can arise where an employer knows, or could reasonably be expected to know, that a person is disabled and is placed at the relevant disadvantage. An employee does not necessarily have to use the exact phrase “reasonable adjustment” for the legal duty to be relevant.
The Equality Act duty can concern a provision, criterion or practice; a physical feature; or the need for an auxiliary aid. The correct adjustment depends on the actual barrier rather than a generic list of accommodations.
What can you realistically ask for?
Choose a remedy that matches the problem. Internal processes can often correct a decision or record; statutory compensation and tribunal remedies depend on the legal claim.
- Agreement and implementation of effective adjustments
- Review of an adjustment that is not working
- Reconsideration of attendance/performance decisions affected by disability
- Compensation or other tribunal remedies where discrimination is established
Evidence worth keeping
Preserve the original record where possible. A short, dated evidence set is usually more useful than an unstructured dump of documents.
Common employer responses - and what they do not necessarily prove
| Employer says | ConsumerWise view |
|---|---|
| “We treat everyone the same.” | The adjustment duty can require different treatment to remove disability-related disadvantage. |
| “Occupational health did not order it.” | Occupational health advises; the employer must make and justify the legal decision. |
| “You did not use the words reasonable adjustment.” | The duty does not necessarily depend on magic words where the employer knew or should have known of disability and disadvantage. |
| “Flexible working was refused, so the issue is closed.” | No. A flexible-working request and an Equality Act adjustment request use different legal frameworks. |
What to say next
Keep the next response short and issue-led. State the decision you challenge, the evidence or rule you rely on, the specific answer you still need and the remedy you want. If the employer relies on a policy or business reason, ask it to identify the relevant provision and explain how it applies to your facts.
Important overlaps and exceptions
- Capability, attendance and sickness procedures can engage adjustments.
- Pregnancy is not a disability, though pregnancy-related protections apply separately.
- Access to Work can support adjustments but does not replace the employer’s legal duty.
What to do
A practical next-step plan
- Write down the event or decision, the date, who made it and the practical impact.
- Identify the legal or contractual right that may apply instead of relying only on the word “unfair”.
- Collect the smallest evidence set that proves the key facts and the employer’s stated reason.
- Use the relevant internal request, grievance, appeal or complaint route and ask for a specific remedy.
- Check Acas and tribunal limitation separately. Do not let a slow internal process cause an external deadline to expire.
Escalation and time limits
Internal procedures can be important, but they do not normally stop an employment tribunal time limit. As at 11 September 2026, most claims whose limitation period starts before 1 October 2026 still use the existing three-month-minus-one-day framework. For most relevant time limits starting on or after 1 October 2026, the period increases to six months minus one day.
Acas early conciliation can affect calculation of the deadline if Acas is notified in time. Some claims use different limits, and interim relief in qualifying dismissal cases can require action within only 7 days. Always check the specific claim rather than applying a general period mechanically.
Official sources
Check the current source material.
- Acas: Discrimination and the law ↗
- Acas: Reasonable adjustments at work ↗
- Equality Advisory and Support Service ↗
ConsumerWise provides general information rather than individual legal advice. Check current rules, dates and eligibility against the official source before acting.