disability passport

The Health & Safety at Work Act

The Health and Safety at Work Act puts a legal duty on employers to ensure the health & safety, and welfare of their employees.

The law also requires that each employer also assesses the risk to their employees.

If they employ more than five people, then the significant findings of the assessment must be recorded.

This applies to those with a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on their ability to do normal daily activities, as defined under the Equality Act 2010, and those who may not yet have a formal diagnosis or assessment.

Health & safety legislation requires that employers do everything “reasonably practicable” to ensure the safety of their employees and others.

It is important when assessing the risks to disabled employees, that we do not create a conflict between health and safety and the disability to do this means avoiding unjustifiable treatment under the Equalities Act 2010 whilst eliminating or reducing risks to employees with disabilities and others.

There is no requirement to do anything under the Equality Act 2010 that would result in a breach of any other statutory obligations such as health and safety legislation.

It would be unjustifiable to say that someone with a disability is a “fire risk” and use this as a reason not to employee them. It is, however, reasonable to have procedures for emergency evacuation which ensures all employees can safely evacuate in an emergency.

To effectively assess the health & safety needs of an employee with a disability, spend time discussing how it affects them and their job role.

The disabled employee themselves will be the best source of information for further information using reputable websites and those set up normally run by charities to raise awareness and funds to research a cure or improved treatment.

It may be beneficial for managers to access any disability awareness training available

A New Way Forward

Disabled workers are twice as likely to drop out of work than non-disabled workers.

The value added to the workplace, society and the economy by disabled workers needs to be recognised, acknowledged, and appreciated.

The New way forward is one where every worker can participate fully and equally, where workplaces are accessible and inclusive

Disabled people face various obstacles when it comes to finding employment and when they do find work its often low pay and are often turned down for jobs and passed over for promotions.

As a movement we must ensure all our members are protected from both intentional and unintentional discrimination at work.

One real cause of concern for our disabled members is the constant and looming threat that every change in line management or job could result in their reasonable adjustments being taken away.

The Disability Passport this will prevent disabled workers from having to go through the stressful and unnecessary bureaucracy of having to re-explain and renegotiate their existing reasonable adjustments.

The disability passport will serve as a robust, straightforward and worker driven process.

Nobody should not have to fight so hard to keep what is a basic legal right.

A voluntary document completed by an employee and their line manager.

It provides a framework to discuss an employee’s disability and health, and what changes can be made at work to assist them with their duties.

The passport will be a record of an employee’s individual needs, and the reasonable adjustments which will allow them to function to their full potential, in a supportive and encouraging environment.

Once agreed, any adjustments will be made and upheld, and if an employee’s line manager changes, they will not have to explain their requirements again.

The Duty to Make Reasonable Adjustments

All employers have a legal duty under the Equality Act 2010 to proactively make reasonable adjustments to remove, reduce or prevent any disadvantages that disabled workers face.

The law recognises that to secure equality for disabled people work may need to be structured differently, support given, and barriers removed. It means that in certain circumstances disabled people may be treated more favourably than non-disabled people to ensure equality, but one disabled person cannot be treated more favourably than another disabled person.

An employer who fails to meet their legal duty under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments is in breach of the law and could be taken to an employment tribunal.

Public sector employers have an additional legal duty to consider or think about how their policies or decisions affect people who are protected under the Equality Act.

This public sector equality duty will include public authorities considering how their policies affect disabled employees and taking steps to mitigate any adverse impact.

What is a Disability Passport?

This is a live record of adjustments agreed between a worker and their manager to support them at work because of a health condition, impairment, or disability.

The passport supports members and their reps to work with employers to ensure that up-to-date, appropriate, practical and correct reasonable adjustments are in place.

The passporting system means that disabled members who move roles, or their line manager changes, do not have to re-explain or renegotiate their reasonable adjustments.

The disability passport system will help you and your members by putting in place a workplace process that supports all disabled staff members and helps eliminate barriers to full workplace participation.

It will ensure their reasonable adjustments are put in place and kept up to date, in line with changes in job role or fluctuations in members’ conditions.

For some workers who have fluctuating conditions, additional steps can be spelt out regarding short-term flexibility required within the overall reasonable adjustments' passport framework.

It will also make it easier for employers to comply with the law.

Why Do We Need Disability Passports In The Workplace?

Disabled people still face significant barriers to getting a job and staying in employment.

The TUC found that the disability employment gap, which is the difference between the employment rates of disabled and non-disabled people, continues to persist at over 30 percent.

Disabled people within the job market are also paid on average 15.2 percent, or £3,000 a year less, than their non-disabled peers.

Research has also found that disabled people are twice as likely to fall out of work as non-disabled people, with one in ten disabled people leaving the labour market each year, compared to one in twenty non-disabled people.

The TUC’s vision is a future where all workplaces are accessible, inclusive and without barriers that prevent equal participation of disabled people. There is still a lot of work to do to meet this vision.

In the meantime, trade union reps must take steps to make sure that the adjustments put in place to assist members meet that aim and eliminate workplace barriers.

Trade unions have a vital role in helping to address major work inequalities both through supporting their disabled members in work and ensuring that employers implement inclusive policies and practices in the workplace.

TUC research found that one of the most common issues for workplace reps was disability.

Over half of reps dealt with disability-related issues between 2014 and 2016, showing the high prevalence of workplace disability-related issues.

These issues included ensuring employers put in place reasonable adjustments for their disabled workers as required by the Equality Act 2010.

Disabled members have told us that when they move roles or their line manager changes, they are often forced to re-explain and frequently renegotiate their reasonable adjustments.

This is both unnecessary and stressful.

One way to address this is for reps to negotiate with employers the use of a reasonable adjustment disability passports. This can sit alongside the employer’s own disability policy, so that the circumstances of a particular individual are catered for.

Principles

Both parties to this agreement believe that:

All workers deserve the opportunity to realise their full potential.
All reasonable steps must be taken to ensure that policies, practices and culture do not discriminate against disabled people.

Both parties recognise that:

Some disabled people may not have a formal diagnosis or assessment, and that a lack of diagnostic support can be a barrier in the workplace for both workers and employers.
Disabled people face discrimination and stigma in wider society, and they may be unwilling to disclose a diagnosis.
Each person is unique and that there can be a high degree of overlap between multiple conditions. Consequently, any support needs must be identified and implemented on the basis of personal evaluation and individual need.

The employer commits to:

Proactively work to eliminate barriers (including prejudice) that disabled people face in the workplace.
Raise awareness of the full range of disabilities including those that are often overlooked, for example: mental health conditions, dyslexia or other neurodivergent conditions.
Consider changes made in response to requests.
Take immediate steps to eliminate potentially discriminatory practices in employment that can arise throughout the course of normal day-to-day workplace activities.
Ensuring workers know they have the right to be accompanied by their union rep in discussions about the passport.
Support paid release for union reps, including union equality reps and disability champions, to attend union education courses on reasonable adjustment disability passports.
Promote the reasonable adjustment passports to all staff.

The reasonable adjustments disability passport is designed to provide a documented record of an individual’s needs, which will allow them to function to their full potential in a supportive and encouraging environment.

A worker may require reasonable adjustments to remove workplace barriers because of environmental, attitudinal or organisational issues. These barriers prevent disabled people from equal participation in the workplace including people with sensory impairments, mental health conditions, long-term injury or neurodivergent conditions.

Whenever a worker moves roles or changes line manager a reasonable adjustments disability passport can be used to ensure that new managers are aware of required adjustments or information relating to an individual’s requirements without the need to repeat potentially difficult conversations and situations.

Completion of the Disability Passport is voluntary, but it should be offered to every worker.

The worker’s reasonable adjustments disability passport will be ‘owned’ by the worker; they will decide who has a copy or can see it, although a signed copy of the passport should be held by both the worker and their manager, and, if appropriate, by HR.

It is also usual practice for the worker to consent to their new line manager accessing their passport.

The passport may be reviewed at the worker’s request to ensure that any adjustments remain the right ones to support the worker to fulfil their work potential.

A worker may initiate an earlier review of the passport if:

their disability or health condition changes
their personal circumstances change
their job requirements change
they change post
there is a change to the working environment.

Awareness of the passport is important. A passport should be available to all workers at any time during their employment and can be requested by the worker or proactively offered by the employer.

Stigma and fear of discrimination may deter workers from disclosing their health or other conditions so it is important that employers provide an open and supportive environment in which workers will be treated with sensitivity, respect and confidentiality.

This is a Call For change from Disabled Members Themselves

Disabled members and their union reps repeatedly report a specific issue that causes significant difficulties.

This occurs when a disabled members’ line manager changes and despite the fact that reasonable adjustments have already been agreed with the previous manager, they are compelled to explain to the new manager just what their disability is and what reasonable adjustments they require to do their job and renegotiate them.

Going through this process can cause undue stress and anxiety. The need to explain again the adjustments which are necessary and have previously been agreed, arises because of inadequate handover between managers and often because the agreed adjustments are not recorded anywhere by the outgoing manager.

Disabled members have proposed the ‘passport’ approach to support workers to maintain their reasonable adjustments and avoid the stress of having to repeatedly renegotiate them.

The Disability Passport in detail

The passport is a live record of adjustments agreed between a disabled worker and their manager to support them at work.

It is for workers to keep and share with anyone they think needs to know about the barriers that they face within or outside the workplace, and the adjustments needed to prevent or reduce the effect of those barriers in their work environment.

Barriers can include both attitudes and environmental factors. People who may need adjustments include both those with visible impairments (such as wheelchair users) and those with non-visible or ‘hidden’ conditions or impairments (such as people with a mental health condition).

The passport’s purpose is to:

make sure that everyone is clear about what adjustments have been agreed and has a record of these
reduce the need to reassess and renegotiate adjustments every time a worker changes jobs, is relocated or is assigned a new manager
provide a worker and manager with the basis for future conversations about adjustments.

The passports should only be shared with the incoming line manager once the written permission of the worker has been given.

Although the worker has control of the information and who it is shared with, it is usual practice for the manager to have a signed copy as well, and sometimes the organisation’s HR or personnel team.

The passports and agreed reasonable adjustments should be reviewed six months after the adjustments have initially been put in place for two reasons: to ensure they remain effective in removing any identified workplace barriers; and where they are found no longer to meet that requirement, to allow a timely conversation to take place to identify adjustments that will address the issues faced by the worker.

Further reviews will be at the worker’s request, and/or when there is any change to a worker’s job that might create additional barriers. A check in these circumstances can ensure the adjustments are still appropriate and effective.

Changes to the type of reasonable adjustments that need to be considered are not uncommon. They can change for a number of reasons, including technological advances that may mean there are better ways to overcome workplace barriers, changes to a worker’s job or changes to an individuals’ condition.

The Benefits

The passport aims to support members and their reps to work with employers to ensure that up-to-date, appropriate, practical and correct reasonable adjustments are in place, and to:

provide workers and their line managers with the basis for discussions and an accurate record of the reasonable adjustments that may be needed and have been agreed
end the need to renegotiate reasonable adjustments with a new manager every time the worker changes jobs or is relocated
provide a clear timeline for expectations and deadlines.

The reasonable adjustments disability passport allows you, the worker, to:

explain the impact of your working conditions on you, given your personal circumstances
explain the barriers that you encounter that stop you participating fully at work
suggest adjustments that you think will make it easier for you to fully participate
review the effectiveness of adjustment/s provided and the ongoing impact this has on your work
explain any change to your health or circumstances.
feel reassured that your manager will know what to do if you become unwell at work, when to contact emergency services and who to contact if necessary
know how and when your manager will keep in touch should you be absent from work due to your disability
consider including more information from your GP, specialist or other expert as appropriate to support your request.

A Policy for Disability Passports

This policy represents an agreement between the Employer’ and ‘the Union’

The policy covers the agreed approach of the employer towards staff, and potential members of staff, who are disabled, who believe that they may be disabled or become disabled.

The scope of this policy covers conditions including, but not limited to: physical disability, sensory impairment, mental health conditions, and neurodiversity.

The Equality Act 2010 and Reasonable Adjustments

The Equality Act 2010 states that a person is disabled if they have a physical or mental impairment which has a substantially adverse and long-term effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

It stipulates that the employer must make reasonable adjustments to ensure disabled workers are not disadvantaged and take steps to remove, reduce or prevent obstacles a disabled worker or job applicant faces.

Reasonable adjustments should always be tailored to the individual’s needs and the barriers faced. Adjustments may comprise one or more measures to enable to the worker to do their job to the best of their ability.

All requests for reasonable adjustments will be fully considered by the employer and responded to within an agreed time.

If the employer refuses a request for an adjustment written reasons must be given within a set period.

Review

The passport and agreed reasonable adjustments should be reviewed six months after the worker’s adjustments have been put in place to ensure they are removing any identified workplace barriers.

Where they have not been put in place or have not proved to be useful to the worker, this meeting would ensure adjustments can be actioned or new adjustments could be agreed.

Further reviews will be at the worker’s request, or if there is any change to a worker’s job, which might create additional barriers, to ensure the adjustments are still appropriate and effective in eliminating workplace barriers.

The worker has the right to be accompanied by their union rep at these review meetings.