Reasonable adjustments or special requirements
If you, or anyone coming to a tribunal with you, have a disability or a particular need, you should contact the Customer Service Officer at the tribunal office dealing with your case as soon as possible to discuss your requirements.
We can provide the following types of assistance
- Our standard booklets are available in Welsh, Bengali, Cantonese, Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu and Gaelic. These can be downloaded from the Employment Tribunals website. Copies can also be obtained from the office dealing with your claim or from the Public Enquiry Line 0845 795 9775, which is open from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.
- Our standard booklets are available in alternative formats such as Braille, on audio tape, on disk and in large print. These can be obtained from the Customer Services Officer or Public Enquiry Line. If you are blind or have a visual impairment, we can also provide our correspondence and tribunal judgments in any of these formats.
- Provide and pay for foreign language and sign language interpreters at the tribunal hearing.
- Most of our offices are accessible for people with disabilities, including the availability of hearing loops. If we cannot meet your requirements, we can arrange for the hearing to be heard in alternative accommodation.
- We can make reasonable adjustments to help you use our service. You should contact the customer service officer at your local office about your requirements as soon as possible, so we can accommodate your needs. We may also be able to help anyone who comes to a tribunal hearing with you. Contact details for each tribunal office can be found on the venues page.
- If you are deaf or hard of hearing we can provide a booklet ‘Guidance for Deaf or Hard of Hearing’ which explains what we can do assist you before and at the tribunal hearing. This booklet is also available from the tribunal office dealing with your case.
We can provide foreign language or sign language interpreters for the tribunal hearing. We cannot provide interpreters or foreign language translations of documents to help you prepare for your case, as we cannot assist any party in the preparation of their case, as we must remain impartial.
The types of reasonable adjustments we have made for people attending a tribunal hearing include the following but you must contact the Customer Services Officer as soon as possible to discuss the type of adjustment you require:
- Paying for a helper/carer to attend a tribunal hearing to assist a claimant who was disabled;
- Providing a private room for a witness who required dialysis treatment during the hearing;
- Arranging for a hearing to be held at another hearing centre for two claimants who had a physical disability as the local tribunal office was not accessible for them;
- Arranging for a claimant with a visual impairment to have equipment available at the hearing to assist them in reading documents presented to the Tribunal during the hearing; and
- Arranging for the tribunal to take regular breaks during the hearing for a claimant who had a medical condition that affected their ability to concentrate for long periods of time.
