What equality law means - Birmingham Disability Resource Centre

Who pays 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, or
• unemployed and about to start a job, or
• unemployed and about to start a Work Trial, or
• 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. Information about Access to
Work is in Further sources of information and advice.
What is meant by ‘reasonable’
You only have to do what is reasonable.
Various factors influence whether a particular adjustment is considered reasonable. The
test of what is reasonable is ultimately an objective test and not simply a matter of what
you may personally think is reasonable.
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