Equality and Human Rights Commission

If an applicant asks for information about the job and the application form (if you’re using one) to be given to them in an alternative format which they require because they are a disabled person then you must provide this, so long as it is a reasonable adjustment – and it is likely to be. This could be information in large print, electronically or as an audio file. Everyone in your organisation who is involved in the recruitment should be told what they have to do.

For example:

A person applies for a job and asks for information in large print format because they have a visual impairment. An administrator dealing with this does not understand what they are being asked to do and is not aware of their own or their employer’s duty to avoid discriminating against disabled people. She ignores the applicant's request and the applicant is unable to apply for the vacancy. This is a failure to comply with the duty to make reasonable adjustments.

If it is a reasonable adjustment to do so, you must be prepared to accept an application in an alternative format. However, the applicant will probably want to submit an application in a format which suits you as the employer. For example, they may usually use Braille to read and type but could send their application to you as a word processed document electronically.

In general, you must not ask a job applicant questions relating to health or disability. So don’t ask on the application form or ask someone to say anything in a covering letter with a CV or in a letter of application or on a separate questionnaire (unless this is a monitoring form) about their health or disability.

Instead, ask whether someone has the relevant skills, qualities and experience to do the job, not about their health or about any disability they may have.

One of the exceptions to this rule is that you can ask a question to find out if a disabled person needs a reasonable adjustment during the recruitment process itself.

But don’t ask for this information on the application form. Ask applicants to tell you this on a separate document or using a covering letter that does not contain any information relevant to deciding whether to take their application further.
Keep this information separate from the rest of the information an applicant gives you about themselves, whether this is on an application form or not. This will make sure that the information is not used to discriminate unlawfully against them, and that you will be able to show that it hasn’t.

The easiest way to make sure the information about reasonable adjustments is not used in the wrong way – to exclude a disabled person from the application process – is to make sure the person or people deciding which applicants to take through to the next stage of the process don’t see the information about reasonable adjustments before making their decision.

If you are making this decision by yourself (for example, if your organisation is very small), then you must be careful not to let your knowledge of the fact an applicant needs reasonable adjustments influence your decision whether to take them through to the next stage.

You only have to make adjustments if you know, or could be reasonably expected to know, that a disabled person has applied or may apply for the job. But you must do all that can reasonably be expected to find out whether this is the case and what, if any, adjustments an applicant requires.

For example:

When inviting job applicants for interview, an employer asks applicants to say if they have any disability-related requirements for interview and states that the employer will make reasonable adjustments. This is the right approach, so long as the employer does not then use any information the applicants give to discriminate against them.

Don’t ask in a way that might be intrusive or that violates the disabled person’s privacy or dignity.

Do not ask anything that is not about making reasonable adjustments to the application process, unless one of the exceptions applies.

Do not use what the person says about reasonable adjustments to make any other decisions that are part of the application process.

For example:

An employer asks a specific question when they invite job applicants for interview: ‘Do you require any adjustments because of a disability?’ and offers to answer any questions applicants have about the interview process to help them work out if they need to ask the employer for anything. The employer is also clear whether or not the interview will take place in a building with level access (i.e. if there are stairs, there are ramps or a lift) and if a hearing loop is available. This is the right sort of approach.

However, applicants do not have to respond to this request and, unless you could otherwise reasonably be expected to know that a job applicant is a disabled person, you will not be under a duty to make adjustments. However, if an applicant discloses at a later stage that they are a disabled person, or you could reasonably be expected to know that they are, you must then consider whether they need reasonable adjustments.

You can read more about making reasonable adjustments to remove barriers for disabled people.  

• Using an application form which asks people to say how they can meet the requirements of the job will help you to focus on whether people can do the job or not, rather than their protected characteristics, and makes unlawful discrimination less likely. This will help you avoid tribunal claims.
• If you have drawn up a job description and person specification, use these to work out what you want to ask on the application form.
• Only ask for information that is relevant to the job. For example, unless it is really necessary for the job, do not ask for applicants’ date of birth or for other dates – although you’ll probably want to ask how long someone was in a particular job, and this is all right. But someone’s age very rarely tells you whether they are the right person for the job or not.
• Consider asking applicants to put on a separate sheet all personal information from which you may be able to tell if they have a protected characteristic.

This is so that this information is not shown to the people choosing applicants. They can then focus completely on what each applicant says about how they meet the requirements of the job, rather than (even accidentally or subconsciously) taking account of irrelevant considerations such as someone’s age, sex or ethnicity.

An exception to this would be if an employer had decided to use positive action in the recruitment for that job; if this is the reason for asking for particular information, this should be made clear on the form. Or you should ask applicants’ permission to allow the people making the recruitment decisions to see their monitoring form.

• Consider allowing people to give information on experiences outside paid employment, or make it clear they can use these in answering the questions. This can help people whose protected characteristics have influenced their work history to show they have gained the skills you need in other ways.

For example:

A woman who has taken several years out of paid employment while her children were very young has been the secretary of her local tenants’ and residents’ association. This has given her valuable skills in administration and co-ordination, and has meant she has kept her IT knowledge up-to-date. An employer does not take account of her unpaid experience but only focuses on her last paid job some years before. They do not gain an accurate picture of her skills, qualities and experience and miss out on recruiting a good employee.

A disabled person applies for a job working at a community centre. The applicant does not have any formal qualifications or experience of paid work. However, the volunteering they have done for local charities means they have experience of organising meetings and contacting people to encourage them to take part in activities. An application form that asks about ‘relevant experience, paid or unpaid’ would highlight this in a way that a form that only asked about ‘previous employment’ would not.