Accessibility in online meetings at work

An inaccessible video call can shut you out of training, promotion or a fair disciplinary hearing. If disability causes the barrier, reasonable adjustments are a legal duty, not a favour. Name what prevents you taking part and ask for a fix in writing.

What the law says

Under section 6 of the Equality Act 2010, disability means a physical or mental impairment with a substantial, long-term adverse effect on normal day-to-day activities. Depression, anxiety, autism, ADHD, hearing loss and long COVID can qualify. Effects matter, not simply the diagnosis.

You do not have to wait a year. Schedule 1 covers effects lasting or likely to last at least 12 months, or the rest of your life. Recurring effects can count. For work claims, day-to-day activities include participating fully and effectively in working life on an equal basis with other workers.

Section 20 covers rules or practices, physical features and missing aids that put you at a substantial disadvantage compared with non-disabled people. A cameras-on policy is a practice. Captions, a British Sign Language interpreter and screen-reader software are possible aids. The physical-feature duty concerns premises occupied by the employer, not automatically your private home. Home equipment and working arrangements can still need adjustment.

The employer must know, or reasonably be expected to know, about your disability and likely disadvantage. Schedule 8 sets that condition. Explain the effects. You can ask without a diagnosis; medical or occupational-health evidence may help where those effects are disputed.

Whether a change is reasonable depends on its effectiveness, practicality, cost and the employer’s resources, as Acas explains. The employer need not accept every proposal. An ineffective fix does not discharge its duty.

Failure to make a required adjustment is discrimination under section 21. Disability-related harassment can also be unlawful on video calls and in work chat under section 26.

Changes that make meetings usable

Ask for access, not a setting switched on for appearances. These are possible adjustments, not automatic entitlements or statutory delivery deadlines.

A deaf care worker may need an interpreter for online supervision. A warehouse picker may need accessible communication at a remote disciplinary hearing. A cleaner with fatigue may need shorter training calls. You do not need a desk job to have these rights. Poor signal or speaking English as a second language does not automatically establish disability.

Cameras-on rules and homeworking

A blanket cameras-on rule can put a disabled worker at a substantial disadvantage. Explain the effect and request camera-off participation. A low-cost change that removes the barrier may be reasonable, but cost alone does not decide it.

Homeworking can be an adjustment. A care coordinator may be able to work remotely. A bedside care role cannot simply move home, but its training or supervision might. Ask about the task causing the disadvantage.

Employees in Great Britain also have a statutory right to request flexible working. Since 6 April 2024 it is a day-one right, with two requests per 12 months. Employers must consult before refusing and decide within two months, unless you agree an extension. They can refuse on eight statutory business grounds. It is not an automatic right to homeworking. See our flexible working guide.

An adjustment request addresses disability-related disadvantage, covers qualifying workers as well as employees, and has no statutory request cap or fixed two-month decision period. Say explicitly if you need the change because of disability. Employees can use both routes, but the employer must consider its adjustment duty separately.

Who pays for equipment and support?

Your employer must fund the reasonable adjustments it owes, without waiting for a grant. GOV.UK guidance includes equipment and homeworking among possible changes.

Access to Work can fund support beyond that duty, including equipment, interpreters, support workers, additional travel costs and mental health support. Home and hybrid work can qualify. The Great Britain scheme covers eligible people aged 16 or over in, or about to start, paid work, including self-employment. Funding depends on DWP’s assessment.

Employer cost sharing can apply to approved equipment and adaptations if you have worked there for more than six weeks when applying. The employer pays its threshold, then 20% of approved costs between that threshold and £10,000. Access to Work normally meets the balance above £10,000. DWP considers grants of up to 100% for support workers and applications made before six weeks in the job. No compulsory cost share does not mean guaranteed full funding.

The threshold for employers with 50 to 249 employees is £500. DWP can seek an additional contribution where support provides a general business benefit. Check approved costs, hours and rates before spending money.

How to ask in writing

Follow a conversation with a written request. Keep a record you can take to your rep or adviser.

1. Explain the effect. For example, “My hearing loss means the automatic captions do not let me follow the safety briefing.” Give relevant information, not your entire medical history.
2. Name the request. Write, “Please treat this as a request for reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010.” In Northern Ireland, refer to the Disability Discrimination Act.
3. Suggest a fix. For example, “Please arrange a live captioner for weekly briefings and send accessible slides two days beforehand.” That timing is your proposal, not a legal deadline.
4. Ask for a reply and interim access. Set a response date that reflects the next meeting. Ask how you can participate while any assessment happens.
5. Keep evidence and get backup. Save replies, invitations and examples of access failures securely. Involve your union rep. If refused or delayed, raise a grievance and get Acas advice without waiting for the outcome.

Agency, zero-hours and self-employed staff

Zero-hours contracts do not remove disability protection. Employees, apprentices, applicants and people within the Equality Act’s wider employment definition can be covered. That includes contracts to work personally, but is not identical to every other employment-status test. Online recruitment interviews are covered too.

Section 41 protects contract workers supplied to a hirer. Agency and hirer responsibilities depend on Schedule 8. Send the request to both if the hirer runs the meetings. Do not accept being passed between them.

Statutory flexible working requires employee status with the organisation receiving your request. Agency staff do not automatically qualify against the hirer; an agency employee may qualify against the agency. A self-employed label does not settle Equality Act protection either. Independent businesses may fall outside its work provisions, while eligible self-employed people can claim Access to Work. See employment status and agency workers’ rights.

If they refuse, stall or punish you

Ask which alternatives the employer considered and why it rejected them. If you cannot attend, explain the barrier and request another arrangement promptly. Simply staying away can create a separate dispute.

Discipline or dismissal because of something arising from disability may breach section 15. The employer has a defence if it did not know and could not reasonably have known of the disability, or objectively justifies the treatment as proportionate to a legitimate aim. Failure to make a required adjustment is a separate claim. Get advice before resigning.

Protect the tribunal deadline

From 1 October 2026, the normal Great Britain discrimination deadline is six months less a day where the relevant date is on or after that date. Earlier acts normally retain three months less a day. SI 2026/954, regulations 3 and 4, sets the transition. It does not revive expired claims.

For adjustment failures, time can run from the decision not to act or when the employer should reasonably have acted. Continuing conduct has separate rules under section 123. Do not assume each missed meeting restarts time. Get the earliest possible deadline checked, especially for events spanning 1 October.

You normally must notify Acas for early conciliation before claiming. Timely notification pauses the clock; the certificate affects the filing deadline. Calculate it with advice. A grievance, appeal or grant application does not pause time. A tribunal can extend discrimination deadlines where just and equitable, but do not rely on that.

What a successful claim can achieve

Discrimination compensation is uncapped and can cover proven financial loss and injury to feelings. For claims presented from 6 April 2026, Vento injury-to-feelings bands are £1,300 to £12,600, £12,600 to £37,700 and £37,700 to £62,900 for the lower, middle and upper bands respectively. Exceptional awards can exceed that. These are guidelines, not guaranteed payouts. Tribunals can also make declarations and appropriate recommendations.

An unreasonable failure to follow the Acas Code can produce an uplift of up to 25% where the Code applies, not automatically for every refusal. See bringing a tribunal claim and making a discrimination complaint.

Scotland and Northern Ireland

Scotland shares the Equality Act duty, Great Britain Access to Work and the flexible working rules above. The discrimination deadline and transition also apply. The scheduled 9 November 2026 change for Scottish breach-of-contract claims is not the adjustment-claim deadline.

Northern Ireland uses the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and has a separate Access to Work scheme. Disability employment claims go to the Industrial Tribunal, not the Fair Employment Tribunal. The normal limit remains three months, subject to local rules and Labour Relations Agency early conciliation. Seek prompt advice from that Agency or the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland statutory flexible working generally still requires 26 weeks’ service and allows one request per 12 months. See nidirect’s disability employment guidance and our Northern Ireland guide.

What is in force and what is scheduled?

The adjustment duty already exists. The government timetable distinguishes these reforms.

1. 1 Oct 2026In force: longer tribunal limits

   The new Great Britain discrimination limit applies subject to the transition explained above.

2. 30 Oct 2026Scheduled: harassment duties

   An “all reasonable steps” sexual-harassment prevention duty and new duties concerning third-party harassment of employees are scheduled, not in force at our legal cut-off. The latter may cover disability-related harassment by a client on video.

3. 1 Jan 2027Scheduled: unfair dismissal changes

   A six-month qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal and uncapped compensatory awards are scheduled for dismissals from this date. Disability discrimination protection already needs no qualifying service.

Further flexible working reforms are scheduled for 2027, with no confirmed month. Future dates remain subject to parliamentary processes and may change. There is no enacted general statutory right to switch off under the Employment Rights Act 2025.

Questions people ask

Does anxiety, ADHD or long COVID qualify?

It can, if the disability test is met. Explain how the condition affects you. See mental health discrimination and long COVID at work.

Must my employer provide BSL for every meeting?

If it is a required reasonable adjustment, yes. Explain which meetings need interpretation and why other options fail. The employer cannot charge you for complying with its duty.

Can they insist on a flexible working form first?

Make clear that you need a disability-related adjustment. The employer must consider that duty separately from any statutory flexible working request.

Do workstation rules apply to meetings at home?

Where the Display Screen Equipment Regulations apply, homeworking does not remove duties on assessment, breaks and eyesight tests. See home and hybrid safety.

Can a recording or transcript be an adjustment?

Yes, where reasonable and effective. Agree access and storage arrangements. It may not replace live support at a disciplinary hearing or discussion where you need to respond.

Should you wait for the grievance before contacting Acas?

No. A grievance does not stop time. Protect your deadline while it continues. In Northern Ireland, use the Labour Relations Agency instead.

Sources

1. Equality Act 2010, particularly sections 6, 15, 20, 21, 26, 41, 83 and 123, and Schedules 1 and 8, legislation.gov.uk.
2. Reasonable adjustments at work, Acas.
3. Requests for home and hybrid working, Acas.
4. Statutory flexible working requests, Acas.
5. Reasonable adjustments for disabled workers, GOV.UK.
6. Access to Work factsheet for employers, DWP. Eligibility, cost sharing and homeworking support.
7. The Access to Work scheme and report summary, National Audit Office, 6 February 2026. Key facts and paragraphs 14 and 15 support the processing, backlog and job-offer evidence.
8. Lack of reasonable adjustments holding disabled people back at work, TUC, 12 May 2025. Survey of 1,000 disabled workers and findings on unmet requests.
9. Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 5 and Transitional Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations 2026, regulations 3 and 4 and the Schedule, legislation.gov.uk.
10. Plan to Make Work Pay and Employment Rights Act: timeline update, government implementation timetable. Current and scheduled commencement dates.
11. Vento bands presidential guidance, April 2026 addendum, Judiciary. Injury-to-feelings bands for claims presented from 6 April 2026.
12. Working with display screen equipment at home, Health and Safety Executive.
13. Disability discrimination law: employment rights, nidirect.
14. Flexible Working Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015, legislation.gov.uk.
15. Employment-related tribunals, nidirect. Northern Ireland jurisdiction, time limits and early conciliation.