Access and facilities for disabled people

What to consider before making an adjustment for disabled employees

Effective adjustments to allow disabled people to access and use your facilities often involve little or no cost to your business.

You only need to make adjustments to your premises if a disabled employee would otherwise be at a significant disadvantage. Before making the adjustment, you could consider:

• the extent to which the disadvantage would be alleviated
• the cost of making the adjustment
• what financial resources your business has access to
• whether you have access to external resources to help you bear the cost
• whether adjustments have been made for other disabled employees
• how willing the disabled employee is to co-operate with any adjustment you make

The Access to Work (AtW) programme provides practical support to disabled people to help overcome barriers in the workplace. It can also provide help to employers. If you wish to know more about AtW, you should contact the Disability Employment Adviser at your local Jobcentre.

The Job Introduction Scheme is aimed at helping employers who are considering recruiting a disabled person but who have genuine concerns about that person's ability to manage the job because of the disability.

WORKSTEP provides supported job opportunities for disabled people who face more serious obstacles in obtaining or retaining a job, but who are able to work effectively with some support.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• When a person is considered disabled
• Change practices to give disabled people equal access
• Provide extra aids or services so disabled people can access your goods or services
• Overcome physical barriers to access
• Improve access to and use of your facilities for disabled employees
• What to consider before making an adjustment for disabled employees
• Make significant changes to your premises
• Make significant changes to premises you rent
• Here's how ensuring accessibility for staff and customers has helped our business

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