Making adjustments following an Access to Work assessment

It's your manager’s responsibility to start the process without delay and prioritise putting the adjustments in place. Delays may mean you are unable to do your day-to-day tasks. 

The manager and employee should decide between them who will take responsibility for requesting and purchasing adjustments. Consideration will need to be made for any approvals or system access that may be required, as there are tasks only line managers can complete. 

Managers must have the consent of the employee to share the Access to Work report. Medical or disability information can be removed before the report is sent to the team the request is being made to. It may breach the employee’s privacy and confidentiality to share their full assessment unnecessarily and it can cause confusion and delays. You can save specific pages of a pdf into a separate file by using the Print function and selecting ‘Microsoft Print to PDF’ printer option from the drop-down list. 

Ordering equipment

Order IT software, hardware, and training 

Some IT equipment can be ordered with XMA or Banner without contacting IT.

  1. Go to 'My Oracle'
  2. Choose 'Procurement'
  3. Choose 'Shop'
  4. Search for the items on XMA or Banner

If items have not been recommended through Access to Work, managers will need to use their own budget.

If equipment cannot be found through XMA or Banner or our Corporate Amazon account, you can make a request for non-standard items through the Assyst portal.

  1. Choose 'services' from the left-hand menu
  2. Choose 'IT Services'
  3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on 'Accessibility IT' 
  4. Choose 'Access to Work' and complete the form, remembering to attach the grant funding letter. 

Workplace strategy coaching

If workplace strategy coaching has been recommended, Access to Work will give a time period in which this must take place. We can only claim back sessions taken within the time period outlined in the grant funding letter.

If you're undertaking a non-IT course, you must keep the Wellbeing team up-to-date.

Send an email to wellbeing@essex.gov.uk:

  • when your coaching or training sessions have been completed
  • if you do not use all of the allocation for any reason, so a claim can be made within the required period
  • with details of the date and time of each session received (when your courses have been completed or if they finish earlier than expected)

Access to Work will not fund sessions where these have been cancelled by the employee except in exceptional circumstances (for example, Jury Service). In these circumstances, Access to Work will need evidence which should be forwarded to wellbeing@essex.gov.uk. 

If you cannot book the sessions within the time allocated, contact Access to Work on 0800 121 7479 as soon as you can to see if they can provide an extension. 

​Order specialist chairs and desks

Specialist chairs and desks must be ordered through Facilities Management.

Email the Access to Work grant funding letter and full report detailing the furniture specifications to facilities@essex.gov.uk. The Facilities Management Team will ask you to complete a short form and will then provide a quote for the items. The budget code is ATWS0000, subjective code 20401.

As the recipient of the ​equipment, you will be asked to review the quote provided and to confirm that it meets the needs/recommendations within the Access To Work report. The wellbeing team will approve the budget spend.

Once Facilities Management have your approval they will order the chair, desk or other furniture items from a specialist supplier.

You may need to consider temporary adjustments whilst awaiting specialist furniture. Specialist chairs are bespoke manufactured and there is usually a 6 to 8 week lead in time from the date the supplier receives the purchase order.

Order other equipment 

Other equipment must be ordered through approved purchasing systems. 

Arrange travel to work

Employees claim money back directly from Access to Work for taxi travel. The quickest way to do this is through setting up a Government Gateway Account. See GOV.UK to find out how to claim money from your grant. 

Support workers

If Access to Work have agreed to fund a support worker, please email wellbeing@essex.gov.uk to discuss the options for putting support in place.

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