The Rise of Disability Discrimination Cases in the UK

Understanding the rise of disability discrimination cases

In recent years, there has been a notable increase in the number of disability discrimination claims brought before employment tribunals. The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen)’s recent study for Acas explored the factors contributing to this rise in claims, the issues being raised, and how organisations like Acas can provide support to employers.

Within our research into the characteristics and drivers of disability discrimination claims, we interviewed people with a range of disabilities, including mental health conditions and those who are neurodivergent.

Types of issues

Our research highlighted the type of issues that were giving rise to disability discrimination claims and found alleged incidents of discrimination were not limited to any specific stage of employment. This included reported discrimination at the point of recruitment, during employment, or at the end of the employment, for example during dismissal.

The topic of reasonable adjustments recurred in our research. During employment, claimants believed discrimination had arisen from the failure to provide reasonable adjustments, as employers sometimes did not see adjustment requests as reasonable. In some instances where adjustments were agreed, claimants felt employers were slow to implement them or needed constant reminding that they were not yet in place. Other examples included differing attitudes of employers/managers to existing reasonable adjustments during a change of management. Claimants also reported feeling harassed by employers whilst being signed off sick, failure to follow correct procedure in terms of managing absence due to sickness or reasonable adjustments or employers moving to dismissal too quickly. 

“NatCen’s research highlighted the importance of meaningful conversations between line managers and employees to establish the best way to support their people at work” said Julie Dennis, Acas’s Head of Inclusive Workplaces. These conversations are an effective way to reduce conflict in the workplace by finding adjustments that work for everybody.

How can employers help?

There are many ways employers can provide support to disabled employees, including reasonable adjustments. Employers did not always understand the value of putting these adjustments in place. Acas provides guidance on supporting disabled people at work to help manage conversations and good practice. Putting workplace adjustments in place can be relatively easy and of little to low cost but still make all the difference, and Acas strongly urge employers to consider these.

The change resting on employers has been emphasised by the current Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Liz Kendall, urging employers to “look at flexibility in the workplace” in response to the growing number of people with mental health conditions. Our research suggests that employers were more comfortable dealing with claims of disability discrimination involving a single issue related to disability, and where relatively simple or well-known reasonable adjustments could be made. Employers were less comfortable dealing with more complex issues involving forms of neurodivergence and mental health conditions, and conditions leading to extended sickness absences and concerns about work performance.

Our research also found disability discrimination complaints were not resolved earlier internally due to reasons such as relationship breakdown, employees lacking confidence in organisational procedures and mismatches in views between employer and employee. This highlights the need for employers to ensure better conversations with employees and creating an environment where people feel safe to disclose and discuss disability without judgement and fear of repercussion. Better conversation means encouraging open dialogue, actively listening to employees and having honest and respectful discussions about any potential disability.

Ensuring openness and ongoing communication at work with employees is crucial and is the responsibility of the employer, as having open lines of communication enables managers to have those better conversations with their staff. This means employees can express concerns earlier, find resolutions earlier, preventing misunderstandings and reducing burden for employers and employees further down the line. 

It's crucial to highlight that openness and better communication arises when people feel safe at work, so employers must ensure employees can feel they are being listened to and they can have ongoing conversations about the support they need and raise their concerns.

Acas believes having better conversations and creating a safe and open environment for the disclosure and discussion of disability actively tackles some of the common types of issues found during the research. 

How Acas can help?

There is lots of helpful advice online to support employers, both on the Acas website and from other organisations. For example, Acas already provides guidance for employers on handling reasonable adjustments and supporting mental health at work. As well as general advice on preventing disability discrimination, Acas also offer free online courses on this and reasonable adjustments.

Participants in our research also commented on ways that Acas could improve their service. They highlighted the need for communication in different formats and understanding that disabled people may have different communications needs.  Acas plans to enhance the initial notification form to ensure it can seamlessly capture the diverse communication needs of all parties, providing a more inclusive experience for everyone involved. Acas is committed to a holistic approach to user assistance and are looking to create a feature, at the point of submitting a notification, that offers a comprehensive list of support resources, ensuring workers and employers have the tools and information needed for successful case resolution.