The University has a duty under the Equality Act 2010 to provide reasonable adjustments to staff with a disability, to ensure they aren’t disadvantaged compared to non-disabled staff.
Generally, these will be employees with a physical or mental impairment (disability), where the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. They might already have had this condition when they joined the University, or it may develop while working at the University.
Guidance on what is considered as a disability under the Equality Act 2010 can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/definition-of-disability-under-equality-act-2010
Managers have a responsibility to support their staff in acquiring the right reasonable adjustments for their condition or impairment.
Managers can speak to Health, Safety and Risk or consult the following sites for more information about making reasonable adjustments:
The following are examples of reasonable adjustments that can be put in place, depending on an individual’s impairment or condition:
Where there is no cost to the University to implement agreed reasonable adjustments, particularly those involving working practices and duties, the adjustment can be mutually agreed, recorded and implemented. However, some reasonable adjustments will require discussions with budget holders and Finance and/or Estates and Facilities .
If the help an employee needs at work is not covered by the University making reasonable adjustments, they may be able to get help from Access to Work .
The employee will be offered support based on their needs, which may include a grant to help cover the costs of practical support in the workplace.
An Access to Work grant can pay for:
Applicants shortlisted for a role are emailed an invitation to interview by the University Recruitment team. When they accept the invitation, they will be asked if they require any reasonable adjustments to allow them to participate. This information will be provided to the interview chair who, if necessary, will contact the applicant to discuss their requirements further.
Successful applicants will be asked to complete a set of online pre-employment forms. One is a Health Declaration which asks the individual they have any medical conditions or impairments that the University needs to be aware of.
If they answer ‘Yes’ they will be asked to provide details of any reasonable adjustments the University will need to consider. This information may be passed to Occupation Health for further assessment and they may provide us with potential recommendations.
Once employment has commenced, it is important the employee records any reasonable adjustments agreed with their line manager. This should be done using the ‘Reasonable Adjustments: Personal Review Form’ in MyView.
The form allows the employee to capture:
Once their line manager has approved the form the information will be stored confidentially on the employee’s HR record within the HR System. Only the employee, their line manager, their line manager's manager and HR will have access to the details of the form. The employee can indicate on the form if they are happy for their line manager to share the reasonable adjustments agreed with the employee’s immediate team if this is of benefit to all.
If an employee has a change of line manager, the information they recorded in the ‘Reasonable Adjustments: Personal Review Form’ will automatically be available to their new line manager.
It is important the employee and their new line manager discuss the previously agreed adjustments and record this review in the Reasonable Adjustments: Personal Review Form’.
Changes to reasonable adjustments (including where the adjustment is no longer required) should be recorded within the ‘Reasonable Adjustments: Personal Review Form’.
Changes to adjustments or new adjustments may be required after a period of sickness, a change in role/responsibilities, work location or in relation to a specific employment process, such as promotion or appraisal.
The University's Equality and Diversity Team have a reasonable adjustments guide for staff and students on their website.