Disability and requesting adjustments

When applying for jobs in the UK, candidates with a disability those with long-term health conditions and neurodivergent candidates have the right to request reasonable adjustments to a recruitment process to ensure that it is fair and equal to them. Adjustments might include requesting extra time for assessments, having an interpreter present or asking for interview modifications such as providing questions in advance and offering a virtual or in-person interview based on the candidate’s needs.

The adjustment you request will be personal to you and can be asked for at any stage, though earlier is often better—such as during the initial application stage or when you are invited for an interview. Many employers, especially those who are Disability Confident, have policies in place to support candidates, and you can usually reach out to the HR or recruitment team directly. When making a request, focus on what will help you succeed. Employers in the UK have a legal duty under the Equality Act 2010 to provide reasonable adjustments, but what counts as reasonable depends on factors like cost, practicality, and the impact on the business.

Whether you decide to also disclose the nature of a disability, or health condition during the recruitment process is down to you as an individual and you can request an adjustment without needing to disclose the nature of your condition. Disability Rights UK offers some comprehensive advice in ‘Telling people you’re disabled: clear and easy guide for students. The guide talks through some of the pros and cons of disclosure and contains lots of links to useful resources.

The Prospects website provides a useful example of how to disclose a disability or long-term health condition in a cover letter.

You can find more details on disclosure and the recruitment process in another course in this series – Think Like a Recruiter

You might also find it useful to watch some of the recorded webinars offered by EmployAbility, including a general Q&A session.

Registering for free with My Plus Students’ Club, can also give you access to a range of relevant career advice and useful resources.

When considering this topic in an SME context, there is a commonly held view that SMEs are not good at recruiting people with disabilities. However, the Federation of Small Businesses 2022 policy report ‘Business without Barriers’ found the following:

• 51% of small business employers have employed a disabled person or someone with a health condition in the last three years.
• 91% of small business employers offer flexible working, rising to 97% of those who employ a disabled person.

In a 2021 report for Disability@Work looking at whether SMEs are poorer employers of disabled people than large firms, the authors found that ‘SMEs do not employ proportionately fewer disabled people than large firms’ and that job satisfaction levels for employees with disabilities is the same in both contexts.

Many reports and articles highlight the small and friendly nature of the SME workplace as being ideal for the flexibility and responsiveness that an employee with a disability might need.

Over to you

If this section is relevant to you – spend some time now thinking about whether you would be more or less likely to disclose your disability to an SME employer.