Workplace Adjustments Guidance

Introduction

This guidance sets out the process for supporting employees with a disability, whether new to the University or an existing employee that has or develops a disability as defined under the Equality Act 2010.

The aim of this guidance is to ensure the employee is supported by following an agreed approach of the 黑料不打烊. This applies to those who have a disability or who develop a disability or who experience changes to their health which may impact on their ability to undertake their work.

This approach should support the line manager and employee to have collaborative discussions whilst outlining that specialist help may need to be sought from Human Resources, Occupational Health, and where appropriate specialist external agencies.

Definitions

Equality Act 2010

Under the Equality Act 2010 the 黑料不打烊 is required to provide reasonable adjustments for disabled employees to ensure they are not disadvantaged at work and that they are enabled to remain in work.

Under this Act a disability is defined as :

A physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long term adverse effect on the employees ability to carry out their normal day to day activities.

Some chronic illnesses such as HIV, Cancer and Multiple Sclerosis MS are automatically covered by the Act from the point of diagnosis even if the impact does not meet the definition.

What is an ‘impairment’

An impairment can be physical or mental and it is worthy of note that impairments can be visible and invisible.

What is meant by substantial and long term in the Equality Act

‘Substantial’ is more than minor or trivial, e.g. it takes much longer than it usually would to complete a daily task like getting dressed

‘Long-term’ means 12 months or more, e.g. a breathing condition that develops as a result of a lung infection.

University’s duty to make Reasonable Adjustments

Under the Equality Act 2010 an employer has a duty to make reasonable adjustments in the workplace where disabled employees would otherwise be put at a disadvantage compared with employees without a disability.

It is for line managers in partnership with an Human Resources Partner or Adviser to consider what is and what is not a reasonable adjustment.

They may include the following:

Adjustments to the individuals workplace
Adjustments to the way they do their work
Flexibility at work in the way they work or where they work
Providing specialist equipment or software to enable the employee at work

The ACAS guidance may be helpful to understand what reasonable adjustments are:

Assessing when workplace adjustments may be required

New employees

All prospective employees (those with a written offer of employment) are required to complete a New Employee Health Declaration that is returned to Occupational Health in confidence prior to the start date of employment.

The Occupational Health Adviser, in consultation with the Occupational Health Physician if required, will assess the responses given by the prospective employee submitting the form. If necessary they will arrange to meet the individual to discuss their disability or health condition with the aim of establishing if adjustments are required which will enable the employee to carry out their role.

After this discussion the following steps will take place.

Where it is established that adjustments are required in view of the appointee having a health condition or disability their consent will be sought by Occupational Health to inform their manager and Human Resources of the adjustment that are advised for them to consider.
Where appropriate the Occupational Health Advisor will inform the member of staff about the 'Access to Work' scheme and the benefits that may be gained for the individual from contacting them. The individual is able to choose if this is right for them at any stage of their employment.
Access to work promotes a model where the individual must trigger the referral themselves.

Please note The recruiting manager in consultation with an HR Partner Adviser will decide what reasonable adjustments are to be put in place.

Employees

With regard to making reasonable adjustments, the University considers that it has a duty to make these for all of its employees including for those with existing conditions or for those with new conditions or where a flare up of a condition has occurred.

If an employee becomes disabled, or experiences a change in a pre-existing disability, the initial step is for the employee to talk to their line manager about their disability or change in health. If the line manager is aware of the disability and/or is seeing signs that a disability has an impact upon the employee’s ability to carry out their role they should initiate discussion with them.

This direct communication is required with the line manager to start the process of identifying support needs. If direct communication with the line manager is not possible, the employee can contact an HR Adviser or Partner in the first instance who will then identify an appropriate manager for the employee to discuss support needs with.

It is the responsibility of the line manager of the employee to ensure that their health or disability is appropriately assessed in order that reasonable adjustments are implemented.

In most cases a referral to Occupational Health should be considered and the employee should be made aware of this and the reasoning for it.

Occupational Health when considering the referral will make an assessment, and this may include the need to obtain information from those providing health care to the employee.

The following will be important to understand

the nature and current level of severity of the disability
the impact of the disability upon the employee’s work
the impact of work upon the health of the employee

Confidentiality will be maintained by relevant colleagues (the manager, Partner or Adviser) who, with the consent of the employee, may be provided with relevant information on a need to know basis only.

When an employee has a disability that they are well used to managing, and there is some change in their condition or the requirements of their work changes then a review of their support arrangements/reasonable adjustments may be required.

A dialogue between the employee, their line manager and HR Partner or Adviser may be the most appropriate starting point. When an employee is meeting their line manager and an HR Partner or Adviser is also present, consideration will also be given to the employee bringing a companion to the meeting. The companion can be a Staff Forum or Trade Union representative or another University employee.

Potential courses of action

Following assessment one or more of a number of courses of action may be required:

Reasonable Adjustments To Role

In some cases it may be that the employee is unable to undertake a limited number of duties associated with their role. Where the changes are minor and do not substantially affect the role it may be possible to redistribute work within the section so that they can continue in their role. However, where adjustments to the role are significant, discussions regarding the impact of these adjustments need to take place.

An HR Partner or Adviser should be involved in discussions with the line manager prior to any significant role adjustment(s) being agreed. This is to ensure that what is agreed is appropriate for the employee and any colleagues whose duties may be affected by any proposed changes. The employee and their line manager should discuss on an on-going basis that the adjustments continue to be effective.

Provision Of Equipment And Auxiliary Aids Identified Through Assessment

This might range from a specialist operator chair for someone experiencing back, neck or shoulder pain, to voice-activated software for someone diagnosed as dyslexic through to a suite of equipment for someone with a serious visual impairment.

Although the provision of equipment should be considered by the manager the employee may be encouraged to apply for Access to Work Funding.

Consider developing a Tailored Adjustment Plan

In order to evaluate if the adjustments are helpful and consider if further adjustments are needed it may be helpful for a Tailored Adjustment Plan (TAP) to be developed.

This is a plan which should be agreed with their manager and then the adjustments reviewed at agreed regular intervals.

It also helps to :

Provide employees and their line managers with a structure for discussions about workplace adjustments;
Ensure that the employee and line manager have a formal record of what has been agreed;
Minimise the need to re-negotiate adjustments each time the employee changes jobs or job roles, is re-located, or is working with a new line manager.

Considering Reasonable Adjustments:

The following stepped approach may be helpful when considering reasonable adjustments that may support an employee in the workplace.

1	Employee experiences difficulty at work due to disability or long-term injury or illness
2	Line manager and employee discuss to identify possible adjustments that will help to overcome any difficulty.
3	If a solution is straight-forward, manager makes the adjustment/s, records it and sets a time for a review
4	If adjustments are difficult to identify, manager discusses the matter with an HR Partner or Adviser.
5	The HR Partner or Adviser offers advice and if necessary coordinates the involvement of experts to help identify adjustments. This may include referral to Occupational Health.
6	The line manager, HR Partner or Adviser and the employee work together to decide if recommended adjustments will be effective and are reasonable.
7	Reasonable adjustments are implemented and recorded and a date is set for a review in a Tailored Adjustment Plan.
8	If adjustments are not reasonable, the line manager and HR Partner or Adviser will meet with the employee to discuss and agree what adjustments can be made.
9	If there are no adjustments that will enable the employee to continue in their original role, it may be necessary to consider a suitable alternative role. The HR Partner or Adviser will provide advice on which HR procedure is followed for this to be considered.