Reasonable Adjustments
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of a right to request workplace modifications for employees not covered under the duty to make reasonable adjustments established in the Equality Act 2010.
Answered by Sir Stephen Timms
This Department has made no such assessment.
Reasonable adjustments are changes an employer makes to remove or reduce a disadvantage related to someone's disability. All employers have a duty under the Equality Act 2010 to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ in the workplace where a disabled employee, would otherwise be put at a substantial disadvantage compared with their colleagues. The Equality and Human Rights Commission is responsible for enforcing the Equality Act and providing guidance on reasonable adjustments.
Employers have a key role to play in supporting workers with long term health conditions or disabilities in the workplace. DWP's current offer to employers includes a digital information service, www.support-with-employee-health-and-disability.dwp.gov.uk/ which provides tailored guidance to businesses to support employees to remain in work. This includes guidance on health disclosures and having conversations about health, plus guidance on legal obligations, including statutory sick pay and making reasonable adjustments.
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