Topic hub
Reasonable Adjustments
Reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010: what counts, what the Courts award when they fail, the cost excuse, and real examples across sport, music, entertainment and live events.
The reasonable adjustments duty is the most operational part of the Equality Act 2010, and the one that generates the most claims against service providers. It requires you to take such steps as are reasonable to remove the substantial disadvantage a disabled person faces in accessing your service.
Two things tend to trip organisations up. The first is treating the duty as reactive, something you do when a disabled customer asks. It isn't. The anticipatory duty means you have to think about it in advance. The second is treating cost as a complete answer. It isn't. Cost is one factor in the reasonableness assessment, weighed against your resources and the disadvantage in issue.
A good reasonable adjustment isn't a generic accommodation bolted on at the last minute. It's a change designed into the customer journey, tested against the actual disadvantage it's meant to remove, and documented so you can show what you did and why.
What counts as reasonable
Section 20(5) sets out the factors: the effect of the disadvantage, the practicality of the step, your resources, the cost, and the availability of financial or other assistance. A step isn't unreasonable just because it's expensive.
The cost excuse
Plummer v Royal Herbert Freehold Ltd is a useful corrective. A bare assertion that works are costly doesn't discharge the reasonableness assessment. You have to show why cost, weighed against resources and disadvantage, makes the step unreasonable.
Recording isn't delivering
Doug Paulley's GTR settlements show that recording an adjustment isn't the same as delivering it. The duty is discharged when the adjustment actually works for the disabled customer, not when it's written down.
What Courts award
Compensation for reasonable adjustments failures follows patterns the Courts have developed over years. Understanding those patterns is cheaper than learning them from a claim.
Articles on this topic
The Problem with EMMA: Crash Test your Tech
When AI can't understand the customer, and what it means for every customer-facing business. Chris Fry on the Rotherham GP AI receptionist, the revised EHRC Code, and why AI doesn't remove the reasonable-adjustments duty, it can create a new one.
Read article →Could Your Venue Send an Accessible Emergency Alert?
When the Government's national alert hit millions of phones, it gave venues a live lesson in accessible communication at scale. Chris Fry on what emergency alerts teach festivals, sports grounds and venues about dynamic disability risk.
Read article →Disability, Dignity and the New Rules on Changing Spaces
The new rules on single-sex and shared changing spaces meet a renewed focus on dignity for disabled people. Chris Fry on where the two agendas collide, and what service providers need to get right.
Read article →Failure to Make Reasonable Adjustments Compensation: What the Courts Award and Why
Reasonable adjustments failures are the most common disability discrimination claims against service providers. Chris Fry on how compensation works, what Courts award, and the patterns that show up in real cases.
Read article →Reasonable Adjustments Examples: What Works in Sport, Music, Entertainment and Live Events
Most organisations understand they have a duty. Far fewer understand what a good reasonable adjustment looks like in practice. Chris Fry sets out real examples across sport, music, entertainment and live events, and the patterns that end up in Court.
Read article →The warning period has ended. The replacement statutory Code now applies.
On 5 August 2026, the EHRC's replacement Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations became statutory and the 2011 Code was revoked. Chris Fry explains what every service provider, venue and public body needs to do now.
Read article →Plummer, Listed Buildings, and the “Cost Excuse”
“We can't afford it” is the most common reason organisations give for not making a reasonable adjustment. The County Court decision in Plummer v Royal Herbert Freehold Ltd shows why cost alone is rarely a defence. Chris Fry on what every venue and heritage site should take from it.
Read article →I'm Self-Diagnosed. Can I Use the Sensory Room?
Self-diagnosis is an operational reality for venues, stadiums, theatres and visitor attractions. Chris Fry examines what the Equality Act actually requires when a customer requests an adjustment based on a condition they haven't had formally diagnosed.
Read article →Passenger Assistance Isn't Delivered Until the Adjustment Actually Works
Recording a reasonable adjustment isn't the same as delivering it. Chris Fry examines Doug Paulley's GTR disability discrimination settlements and the operational lessons every service provider should take from them.
Read article →How to Audit Your Companion Ticket Policy
A practical review framework for sport, music, entertainment and live events organisations. Eight audit areas, specific review questions, common failures, and practical steps to fix them.
Read article →Medical Cannabis at UK Events: Are Venue Policies Keeping Up With the Law?
Prescribed cannabis has been legally available since 2018. Yet for disabled attendees at concerts and festivals, bringing their medication to a venue can still create unnecessary difficulty. Chris Fry asks whether venue security policies and staff training have kept pace.
Read article →Stop Asking 'Are You Disabled?' Start Asking 'What Do You Need?'
The debate about disability proof has become polarised. Chris Fry argues we're asking the wrong question, and that the Equality Act points to a better operational approach for venues and service providers.
Read article →Ten Days to Compliance: The EHRC Code Changes Everything for Digital Accessibility
On 5 August 2026 the EHRC's new Statutory Code of Practice became the definitive framework courts must apply to Equality Act claims. For organisations with digital customer journeys, the implications are immediate.
Read article →Beyond Physical Ramps: Why Invisible and Fluctuating Disabilities Require Equality by Design
The Equality Act 2010 doesn't ask whether a disability is visible. Service providers who design their policies around obvious, physical access barriers are missing the legal point entirely. Chris Fry on what the Act actually requires.
Read article →The 2026 EHRC Code: Everyone Missed the Disability Chapters
The legal press wrote thousands of words about the updated EHRC Code of Practice. Almost all of it was about sex and gender. The disability chapters, neurodivergence, the anticipatory duty, and 15 years of updated caselaw got almost no coverage. Chris Fry explains what service providers actually need to know.
Read article →Changing Places Toilets: Why Venue Accessibility Can't Stop at the Front Door
A venue can be technically accessible at the entrance and still be practically unusable for some disabled people once they're inside. Chris Fry explains what the Equality Act 2010 actually requires of venue operators.
Read article →Related resources
How Strategic Access Consulting can help
Practical support on this topic, from audits and training to insurance-backed retainer cover.
Disability access audits and the Dynamic Disability Assessment