About Workplace Mental Health
Reasonable adjustments for mental health are one of the most misunderstood duties an employer holds. Many organisations still treat them as a kindness they may or may not extend, when in fact they are a legal requirement under the Equality Act 2010, the law that protects people from discrimination at work. With the Health and Safety Executive recording 964,000 workers experiencing work-related stress, depression or anxiety in 2024/25, the highest figure on record, this is not a niche issue affecting a handful of employees. It is mainstream. Having spent more than twenty years on psychological health at work, including my time as a senior psychologist at the Health and Safety Executive, I have seen adjustments done well, quietly keeping capable people in their jobs, and done badly, in ways that end in grievance, ill health or an employment tribunal. Let me set out what reasonable adjustments for mental health actually mean and how to get them right.
What reasonable adjustments for mental health are
Under the Equality Act 2010, a mental health condition counts as a disability if it has a substantial and long-term effect, meaning it has lasted or is likely to last twelve months or more, on a person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Conditions such as depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress can all meet that test. Where they do, the employer has a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments so that the person is not placed at a substantial disadvantage compared with colleagues who are not disabled. The word reasonable does real work here. It balances the benefit to the employee against the cost, disruption and practicality for the employer, so what is reasonable for a large organisation may differ from what is reasonable for a small one. But the duty itself is not optional, and it is triggered by the disadvantage, not by whether the employee has formally disclosed a diagnosis in the way an employer might expect.
There is an important caveat here. Meeting that twelve-month threshold is what triggers the specific legal duty to make reasonable adjustments, but it is not the whole of your responsibility. Most people who struggle with their mental health recover well within a year, and someone signed off for eight weeks may still feel the effects when they come back to work. Even where the Equality Act duty does not strictly apply, you still hold a duty of care towards your people, and putting sensible support in place early is both good practice and often what stops a shorter-term problem from becoming a long-term one. So do not read the twelve-month test as a licence to do nothing for everyone below it. The right question is not only whether someone is legally disabled, but what reasonable steps would help them stay well and stay at work.
Examples of reasonable adjustments for mental health
The most helpful thing to understand is that good adjustments are usually small, specific and cheap. They are rarely dramatic. Common examples include reviewing someone’s workload or deadlines so it stays manageable while they recover, breaking large tasks into shorter, clearer pieces, and allowing a phased return after a period of absence. They might mean flexible or homeworking arrangements, a quieter workspace away from a noisy floor, or a change to start and finish times so someone can avoid a rush-hour commute that spikes their anxiety. They often include more regular, supportive check-ins with a manager, adjustments to how supervision or performance conversations are handled, and time off for medical appointments. Acas and Mind both publish good, practical lists of these. The principle running through all of them is the same: you are removing a specific barrier that a specific person faces, not offering a generic perk. That is why a template approach rarely works. The adjustment has to fit the individual and the job, which is why the conversation matters as much as the list.
How to get reasonable adjustments for mental health right
Getting this right is mostly about the quality of the conversation and the willingness to keep it going. Start by asking the person what would help, rather than guessing or imposing. Many employees know exactly what makes their work harder and what would ease it, but they will only say so if they trust the response. Write the agreed adjustments down, review them, and be prepared to change them as circumstances change, because mental health fluctuates and a fixed arrangement made once and forgotten will drift out of usefulness. Where the picture is complex, occupational health advice can help you understand the functional impact, though the decision on what is reasonable remains the employer’s. Above all, treat the adjustment as a normal part of managing people well, not as a special dispensation that marks the person out. When adjustments are handled with discretion and good faith, they tend to keep valued, experienced people in work. When they are refused, delayed or treated as a nuisance, the cost usually arrives later and larger. It is worth saying too that adjustments work best inside an organisation that manages psychosocial risk properly in the first place, which is the territory of ISO 45003, the global standard for psychological health and safety at work. If the underlying conditions are healthy, far fewer people will need individual adjustments at all. Our plain-English guide to ISO 45003 explains that connection, and our strategic advisory helps you build it.
Frequently asked questions
Are reasonable adjustments for mental health a legal requirement?
Yes. Where a mental health condition meets the Equality Act 2010 definition of a disability, meaning it has a substantial and long-term effect on day-to-day activities, the employer has a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments. They are a requirement, not a favour, and the duty is triggered by the disadvantage the person faces. Even where a condition does not meet that twelve-month threshold, you still hold a duty of care, so offering sensible support early is good practice regardless.
What counts as a reasonable adjustment for mental health?
A reasonable adjustment for mental health is any practical change that removes a barrier the person faces, weighed against cost and practicality for the employer. Common examples include adjusted workloads and deadlines, phased returns, flexible or homeworking, a quieter workspace, changed hours, and more regular supportive check-ins with a manager.
If you want to handle reasonable adjustments for mental health with confidence, and to build the kind of workplace where fewer people need them in the first place, our ISO 45003 gap analysis and strategic advisory can help. Get in touch through being-real.co.uk.
About Peter Kelly and Being Real
Peter Kelly is an occupational psychologist with more than twenty years at the Health and Safety Executive, where he helped shape national policy on work-related stress and mental health. He sat on the drafting panel for ISO 45003, the global standard for psychological health and safety at work. Being Real helps organisations move from policy to practice on workplace mental health, from ISO 45003 gap analysis to BS 30480 suicide prevention and strategic advisory. You can contact the team at being-real.co.uk.