How do I arrange a workplace needs assessment for an employee?

Start the conversation, then arrange the assessment

Talk to the employee, then arrange and fund an occupational-health or independent assessment to identify reasonable adjustments. Access to Work offers a separate free assessment the employee applies for themselves. This duty sits in the Equality Act 2010. The first move is yours, and it is a conversation, not a form. Once someone tells you they are disabled or neurodivergent, your duty to make reasonable adjustments is already live, so ask what they are finding hard at work and offer to bring in a proper assessment to pin down what would help.

A useful sentence to say or write is: “Thank you for telling me. I'd like to arrange a workplace assessment so we get the adjustments right, and the company will cover the cost — would you be comfortable with that?” You do not need to wait for a diagnosis certificate. Acas is clear that the duty starts once you know, or could reasonably be expected to know, that someone is disabled, so a disclosed difficulty is enough to act on.

Arrange and pay for the assessment yourself

This is the part employers most often get wrong, so be clear which route is which. You have two:

• The assessment you arrange and fund. Refer the employee to your occupational health (OH) provider, or commission an independent specialist assessor for autism, ADHD, dyslexia or other neurodivergence. This is your responsibility under the Equality Act, not something to push onto the state. You pay; you set it up; the report gives you a tailored list of adjustments to put in place.
• Access to Work. A separate, free assessment funded by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Only the employee can apply — you cannot apply on their behalf — but you can prompt them, give them the link, and act as their workplace contact. A DWP case manager arranges an assessment only if it is not already obvious what support is needed.

The two routes complement each other. Keep making the adjustments your OH or independent report identifies while any Access to Work claim is in the queue. Access to Work tops up your own duty; it does not replace it, and you can contribute to or part-fund the support it recommends.

If the employee wants the free route too

Point them to apply themselves on the GOV.UK Access to Work service or by phone on 0800 121 7479, Monday to Friday. They give details of how their condition affects their work and will need your contact details as their employer. The grant is generous: it is capped at £69,260 for the financial year 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. If a manager resists arranging the assessment at all, treat that as a reasonable-adjustments failure and escalate it through HR, because failing to make adjustments is itself unlawful discrimination under the Equality Act 2010.

This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.