New ACAS guidance
Reasonable adjustments for mental health
ACAS has released new guidance and resources for both employers and employees when considering reasonable adjustments for mental health. We summarise some of the key points and resources below.
Background
The Equality Act 2010 provides that employers must make reasonable adjustments for workers (as well as job applicants) when:
- they know, or could reasonably be expected to know, someone is disabled.
- a disabled staff member or job applicant asks for adjustments.
- someone who's disabled is having difficulty with any part of their job.
- someone's absence record, sickness record or delay in returning to work is because of, or linked to, their disability.
The definition of disability includes both a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on that person's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.
Key points from the ACAS guidance
Examples of reasonable adjustments
While adjustments should be specific and tailored to the relevant individual, the ACAS guidance gives some examples of adjustments that could be considered:
- Changing someone's role and responsibilities e.g. reviewing someone's responsibilities to reduce those that are more stressful – for example reducing phone calls or customer facing work.
- Reviewing working relationships and communication styles e.g. making sure someone is working with trusted people to limit the impact of different working and communication styles.
- Changing the physical working environment e.g. allowing someone to work from home to manage distractions or engage in activities that allow them to manage their mental health – for example, so they can take regular breaks without feeling other people are watching them.
- Policy changes e.g. offering paid time off for someone to attend appointments in work time.
- Additional support e.g. providing a buddy or mentor to be a dedicated person who can support with work tasks.
Other key recommendations for employers / managers
- Tips for managers supporting someone to access the support they need e.g. check in with them regularly, recognise changes in the employee's behaviour, and know when to ask for help from others, such as other senior leaders or someone from HR or occupational health.
- Tips for having a conversation about reasonable adjustments for mental health e.g. ask the employee how they are, make it clear they should look after themselves and focus on managing their mental health, let them know about any relevant policies/support and the process for reasonable adjustments and agree a date for a meeting about reasonable adjustments. See the checklist on the right for more tips.
- On-going support: It can be useful to arrange follow-up meetings to discuss how the work adjustments are working. These meetings might be weekly, monthly or less frequently depending on the situation.
- Record changes to reasonable adjustments: See the template from ACAS available on the right hand side.
- Consider implementing or updating a reasonable adjustments policy that covers mental health. Policies should be accessible, clear and managers should be aware of the details of the policies.
Useful resources for employers
Checklist for employers when responding to reasonable adjustment requests (click on the icon above)
Template letter for employers when confirming reasonable adjustments (click on the icon above)
Template for recording a review of reasonable adjustments (click on the icon above)
