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Information on the Adjustments Passport and how it may help you if you are a member of staff with a disability or caring responsibilities.
What is an Adjustments Passport?
The Adjustments Passport is a tool to record the reasonable adjustments and flexible working arrangements (for example for people with caring responsibilities) agreed between an employee and their line manager.
Some employees may feel anxious raising requests for reasonable adjustments with their managers and some managers might find it difficult or uncomfortable discussing issues that they feel are personal to the employee. The Adjustments Passport is designed to provide structure to facilitate these discussions with more ease.
Completion of the passport is voluntary. The employee has control over the content (they can include as much detail as they feel is appropriate) and who it is shared with. The employee should then discuss the details with their line manager so that they can understand how to best provide the support required and agree appropriate adjustments.
The purpose of this passport is to:
- Provide employees and their line managers with the framework to discuss adjustment needs
- Ensure that both parties, the individual and the employer, have an accurate record of what adjustments have been agreed
- Minimise the need to renegotiate adjustments every time the employee changes jobs, is re-located or assigned a new manager within the UCL.
The adjustments passport should be reviewed every 6 months, or if the employee’s circumstances or disability changes.
What are the benefits of an Adjustments Passport?
Benefits to employees
- Allows you to communicate and explain the impact of any impairments, health conditions, caring or other personal commitments at work
- Enables you to suggest adjustments that will enable you to do your job and safeguard your wellbeing
- Reducing the need to restate needs and renegotiate adjustments when changes occur that do not impact ways of working, such as a change in line manager
- A tool to facilitate discussion at any probation/supervision/appraisal meetings to ensure current adjustments are still effective and up to date
- Assurance that your manager is committed to meeting your needs in the workplace
- A level of security when contemplating job changes across UCL or facing the impact of reorganisations
- Identify further sources of support or advice, if required.
Benefits to line managers
- An understanding of how an employee's disability or personal circumstances impacts them at work, including the barriers they face and what their needs may be
- A tool to facilitate constructive conversations about an employee’s personal circumstances
- A tool to review the effectiveness of any adjustments already agreed
- A clearer understanding of the capabilities of an employee with appropriate adjustments in place
- A way to recognise signs that an employee might be struggling, unwell, or experiencing a flare up of a progressive or long-term condition, and know what the employee wants them to do in these circumstances
- Knowledge on how and when to stay in touch if the employee is on sick or extended leave
- Knowing whether the employee needs additional support (e.g., applying to Access to Work, referral to Workplace Health, undertake Workplace Needs Assessment or advice from Digital Accessibility).
Frequently Asked Questions
- Who can initiate the use of the Adjustments Passport?
Either the employee or the line manager can initiate the process. However, it is a collaborative process, and it should be mutually beneficial to both parties as it provides a written record of agreed agreements. You can contact the EDI Team or the HR Business Partnering Team for advice on completing an Adjustments Passport.
- When is the best time to complete an Adjustments Passport?
Anytime! People may use an Adjustments Passport in a variety of scenarios:
- For new starters with an existing condition/caring arrangement
- For a new condition/caring arrangement for an existing employee
- To anticipate future changes to a fluctuating or evolving condition/changing caring commitment
- To review adjustments that have been in place for some time
- A change in the workplace such as a change in line manager, job role, or job location.
Probation, regular supervision, and appraisal meetings between staff and managers provide good opportunities to complete or review an Adjustments Passport. The passport should be reviewed at least every 6 months to check the effectiveness of the adjustments in place.
- When should an Adjustments Passport be reviewed?
The Adjustments Passport may be reviewed and amended as necessary, with the agreement of both parties, if there is any change in personal circumstances or disability/condition. However, the passport should be reviewed at least every 6 months to check the effectiveness of the adjustments in place, as well as during probation meetings and subsequent annual appraisals. It should also be reviewed following a period of absence (e.g., sick leave or caring related absence) in a return-to-work meeting, before a change of job or duties or the introduction of new technology, location or ways of working.
- What if further support or guidance is needed to identify which adjustments can be implemented?
Where the adjustments required for the employee are within the power of the line manager to provide, no additional involvement is required. Where further support is needed, please indicate this on the passport and seek the appropriate support as soon as possible (within 2 weeks). The Adjustments Passport can then be finalised after further support has been provided.
Further guidance and support are available from:
Management referral to Workplace Health
Screening and/or Workplace Needs Assessment for possible/existing neurodivergent conditions
Access to Work
Further advice from your HRBP, or EDI team for complex cases
Digital Accessibility Team- What do I do after I have completed an Adjustments Passport?
Both the employee and line manager should keep an up-to-date electronic copy of the Adjustments Passport stored safely and securely in line with UCL’s Information Security Policy around sensitive, personal data (e.g. on employee's electronic staff file).
- What happens if a new line manager takes over responsibility for the employee?
New managers of employees with an Adjustments Passport in place should accept the adjustments outlined in the agreement as reasonable unless they are demonstrably impractical - and ensure that they continue to be implemented. The agreement may need to be reviewed and amended at a later date but this should not happen until both parties have worked together for a reasonable period of time (i.e. no less than 3 months), unless there are substantive material changes in the working environment (e.g. an office move to a different location).
- What happens if the employee is required to change location within their current role?
If any agreed adjustments are specific to the employee’s location, the Adjustments Passport should be reviewed to ensure the employees needs are met in the new location. Aspects of the passport unrelated to the relocation should remain unchanged.
- What happens if the employee is affected by a planned organisational change?
If there is a planned organisational change (e.g., a restructure), the Adjustments Passport should be considered as part of the change process (e.g., it may impact on decisions about what is deemed 'suitable alternative work'). After any organisational change has been implemented which has resulted in changes for the employee, the Adjustments Passport should be reviewed to account for any changes and amended where required.
- What happens if the employee moves to a new role within UCL?
The employee should send the Adjustments Passport to their new line manager, who should familiarise themselves with the contents. Both parties should then discuss if the change in job role requires any changes to the agreed adjustments. If there is no substantive change to the type of role, then a review may not be necessary.