Paying for reasonable adjustments

If something is a reasonable adjustment, you must pay for it as the employer. The cost of an adjustment can be taken into account in deciding if it is reasonable or not.

However, there is a government scheme called Access to Work which can help a person whose health or disability affects their work by giving them advice and support. Access to Work can help with extra costs which would not be reasonable for an employer or prospective employer to pay.

For example, Access to Work might pay towards the cost of getting to work if the disabled person cannot use public transport, or for assistance with communication at job interviews.

A person may be able to get advice and support from Access to Work if they are:

• in a paid job
• unemployed and about to start a job
• unemployed and about to start a Work Trial
• self-employed, and
• their disability or health condition stops them from being able to do parts of their job.

Make sure your worker knows about Access to Work. Although the advice and support are given to the worker themselves, you will obviously benefit too.