Contact:
  • Louise Murphy - Equalities Officer
  • Address:
    Keynsham Town Hall, Keynsham, Bristol.
  • E-mail:
    louise_murphy@bathnes.gov.uk 
  • Telephone:
    01225 477094
  • Fax:
    n/a
  • Minicom:
    n/a
  • Page Updated:
    22/11/2008
  • Author:
    Michelle Fillary
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Reasonable Adjustment Panel Process

(Latest version March 2006)

Bath and North East Somerset Council’s duties under DDA

It is the Council’s duty under Disability Discrimination Act 1995 to consider the provision of reasonable adjustment(s) in the workplace for any disabled employee.  (The term ‘reasonable’ is, as yet, unclear. It is the responsibility of the employing organisation to decide on the reasonableness of any adjustment).

When can a request for Reasonable Adjustments be made?

An Employee or potential Employee can make a request for adjustments at different stages of their involvement with Bath & North East Somerset Council. It could be on their Medical Disclosure Form, following a change in an existing disability or as an unexpected request where they have a disability that hasn’t been previously disclosed but where they find that they are now having difficulties.

As soon as the request for adjustments is made an Employee or potential Employee who is covered the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, we have to provide adjustments if they are reasonable. It is important that the assessment of what is reasonable is thorough as getting it wrong and refusing an adjustment that the employee or potential employee can later show was reasonable could leave the Council (and the staff involved) open to legal action.

To help Managers get all the information needed to be able to make a decision on the requested adjustments, an application form has been developed (see Appendix 1: Reasonable Adjustment Application Form).

What is the Reasonable Adjustment Process?

This process has been outlined in a flow chart (see Appendix 3).  The process begins when an employee or potential employee makes a request for a Reasonable Adjustment.  Whoever receives the request for an adjustment from a disabled employee or potential employee is responsible for the start of the process. They will record on the Reasonable Adjustment Application Form ( Appendix 1) the date the request for adjustments was received, the adjustments requested and identify the most appropriate person to consider the provision of the adjustment(s). That is most likely to be the relevant Line Manager. Once the relevant person has been identified the person receiving the request for adjustments will pass the Reasonable Adjustment Application Form to that person and send copies to the employee/potential employee, HR and Occupational Health.

The Line Manager (or other identified relevant person) will then arrange to meet with the employee/potential employee to gather the information needed in order to make a decision on the requested adjustments. It may be that they need to seek advice from HR, OH or Access to Work and the dates that this advice is sought should be recorded so that any delays in the decision can be explained.

Once all the relevant information is available, the Line Manager will complete a report based on the Reasonable Adjustment Application Form (see Appendix 1) and in that, state what their decision is, how they have reached this decision, and that they consider this decision to be reasonable. They will then discuss this with the employee/potential employee and ask if they accept the decision. The employee/potential employee will sign the report form to show if they either agree or disagree with the decision and copies of the report must be passed to HR. 

If the employee agrees, the Line Manager will go ahead and arrange for the adjustments to be made. If the employee is not able to agree the decision they should be referred to the Reasonable Adjustment Panel. 

The Reasonable Adjustment Panel

The panel could comprise the following:

  • Occupational Health
  • Human Resources (Corporate or from the relevant Service area)
  • Trade Unions
  • The employee requiring reasonable adjustment and her/his manager would also attend.

Plus, on a call-in needs led basis:

  • Property/strategic landlord
  • Information Technology
  • Health & Safety
  • And any other officer or consultant with specialist knowledge.

The Reasonable Adjustments Panel should follow the format laid down in the Reasonable Adjustment Panel Report Pro-forma – (see  Appendix 2)

Reasonable Adjustment Panel - role and purpose

The role of the Reasonable Adjustment Panel is to establish if a proper assessment of the adjustments required for a disabled employee/potential employee has been made.  Panels must prepare a report covering all of the questions raised in sections 1 – 8 of the Report Pro-Forma (see Appendix 2).

Once the panel has made and recorded its decision, this must be discussed with the employee/potential employee.  This discussion with the employee should be recorded, along with whether or not the employee agrees with the decision made.  If the employee does not agree, they have the opportunity to raise this matter through the Grievance Procedure (if they are an existing Employee). The Employee/Potential Employee must be given a copy of the completed report and decision.