Reasonable Adjustments: A Manager’s Guide - July 2026

6. What is Reasonable?

It can be difficult to assess whether an adjustment is reasonable, and a number of factors should be considered.

6.1 How much does a reasonable adjustment cost?

It is worth noting that most adjustments cost very little or nothing and are often a matter of flexibility or changing an approach to a working practice.

Where there is a cost involved in making the reasonable adjustment and you feel the cost could be prohibitive, you will need to consider:

• How expensive the adjustment is in relation to Carmarthenshire County Council as a whole. As a large organisation it might be difficult for us to defend the failure to make a reasonable adjustment on cost alone. Advice should be taken from your HRBP in conjunction with your Head of Service if a reasonable adjustment appears too costly. Remember that in many cases grants may be reclaimed from Access to Work.

• Will the adjustment benefit other people as well as the disabled employee? For example, clearer signage, better lighting and automatic doors may require an initial monetary investment but they would benefit many people.

6.2 How effective is the proposed reasonable adjustment?

A reasonable adjustment may only be considered reasonable if it reduces the disadvantage that the employee is facing. You must always ask the employee what they think would help them do the job but remember that people living with a disability are not always the experts on all the support available to them. OH, may be able to advise further where required.

6.3 How practical is it to make the adjustment?

Adjustments will only be reasonable if they are practical to make.

In some cases, the type of adjustment required may not be practical because of other circumstances e.g. if some structural work is required to a listed building, then this may not always be possible, although each case needs to be considered individually.

In some cases, you may need to consider different types of work by mutual agreement, and this may be a reasonable adjustment.

6.4 How much disruption will it cause?

The amount of disruption that an adjustment would cause to service delivery will affect whether an adjustment is considered reasonable. Whilst most adjustments cause no disruption at all and only affect the way in which an individual works there may be cases where a proposed reasonable adjustment causes too much disruption to service delivery, in which case alternative adjustments will need to be considered.

6.5 How does it affect other people in the team?

It is your role as a manager to make it clear that equality does not mean treating everybody the same; in fact, to treat people fairly we must treat them differently according to their needs.

Other team members including other managers/senior manager should only be told about a person’s disability or any health condition with the explicit consent of the employee.

They will need to be informed of any reasonable adjustment that is made if this has an impact on them and their working environment

If a disabled person feels valued and comfortable in the environment where they work, they are more likely to disclose their disability to you as their manager and to colleagues.

6.6 Does it pose a health and safety hazard?

It is important to consider whether a reasonable adjustment puts the disabled employee and others at risk.

If an adjustment poses an unacceptable risk to the health and safety of either the disabled employee or any other employees, then it will never be reasonable.

However, before a decision is made to refuse an adjustment on health and safety grounds you must ensure that you have all the facts and are not basing the refusal on assumptions. This means conducting a thorough risk assessment and seeking advice from a H&S Advisor. Examples of reasonable adjustments.