Reasonable adjustments for students in further education colleges

Reasonable adjustments are the most common legal duty an FE inclusion team handles, and the one most often handled informally. A tutor agrees extra time, a learner gets a coloured overlay, someone emails the exams office. Months later nobody can say what was agreed, whether it happened, or whether it helped. This guide sets out what the law requires of FE colleges and training providers in England, and a simple process that turns a legal duty into support the learner can actually feel.

It explains duties and good practice. It is not legal advice. For a specific dispute, take advice from your legal team or a specialist adviser.

What is a reasonable adjustment in further education?

A reasonable adjustment is a step an education provider must take to remove or reduce a substantial disadvantage that a disabled learner faces compared with learners who are not disabled. The duty comes from section 20 of the Equality Act 2010, and section 20 sets out three requirements:

Where the first or third requirement relates to information, reasonable steps include providing it in an accessible format (section 20(6)). That covers handouts, virtual learning environment content, assessment briefs and letters home.

“Substantial” in the Act means more than minor or trivial. It is a low bar. If a learner is struggling in a way their peers are not because of their impairment, you should assume the duty is engaged and start a conversation.

Who has the duty in an FE setting?

The responsible body of the institution has the duty. Section 91 covers further education institutions, 16 to 19 Academies and higher education institutions, and section 91(9) applies the reasonable adjustments duty to them. The responsible body is normally the governing body or corporation (the proprietor for a 16 to 19 Academy).

In practice the duty is carried out by everyone who teaches, assesses, timetables, runs admissions or provides a service. A tutor who refuses an agreed adjustment is acting for the college, and the college is responsible.

Other settings have their own routes into the Act:

• Independent training providers delivering vocational training are generally covered as employment service-providers under sections 55 and 56, which carry their own adjustment duty.
• Employers of apprentices have the employment duties in Part 5. Workplace adjustments for apprentices are covered in reasonable adjustments for apprentices and working with employers on adjustments.
• End-point assessment and exams have their own processes. See end-point assessment reasonable adjustments and exam access arrangements.

What does “anticipatory” mean for colleges?

Anticipatory means you must think ahead about the barriers disabled learners in general are likely to face, not only respond when an individual asks. Schedule 13, paragraph 3 says that for admissions the duty is owed to disabled persons generally, and for the provision of education and access to benefits, facilities and services it is owed to disabled students generally.

That has practical consequences:

• Course materials should be accessible by default (structured headings, alt text, captioned video). See accessible teaching materials.
• Enrolment and interview processes should invite learners to say what helps, in more than one format.
• Common adjustments, such as rest breaks, quiet rooms or assistive software, should be available without a long approval chain.
• Your virtual learning environment and learner-facing systems should meet WCAG 2.2.

The anticipatory duty does not mean predicting every individual need. It means not waiting for a complaint before removing barriers you could reasonably foresee.

What makes an adjustment “reasonable”?

The Act does not define “reasonable”, so it depends on the facts. The EHRC technical guidance on further and higher education discusses the factors that are likely to matter, which include:

• how effective the step would be in removing the disadvantage
• how practicable it is
• the financial and other costs
• the provider’s resources and any outside funding available, such as high needs or learning support funding
• health and safety
• the interests of other learners

Cost is rarely a strong argument for a large college when the adjustment is modest. And the cost cannot be passed on: section 20(7) says you cannot require the disabled person to pay.

Two limits matter in FE:

1. Competence standards. Schedule 13 paragraph 4 says the duty does not apply to the application of a competence standard, meaning an academic, medical or other standard used to decide whether someone has a particular level of competence or ability. You can change how a learner shows competence; you do not have to change what competence means. A qualification requiring safe use of a lathe is a competence standard. A rule that knowledge must be shown in handwriting usually is not.
2. Confidentiality requests. Schedule 13 paragraph 8 says that where a learner has asked for their disability to be kept confidential, you must have regard to that request when deciding what is reasonable. Respecting confidentiality may limit what you can do without the learner’s agreement. Record the request and discuss options with the learner.

What happens if a provider fails to make an adjustment?

A failure to comply with any of the three requirements is a failure to make reasonable adjustments, and under section 21 that is a form of discrimination against the disabled person concerned. Claims about further education are brought in the county court.

Beyond the legal risk, unmade adjustments usually show up first as missed sessions, late work, withdrawal and complaints. An adjustment that is agreed but not delivered is, from the learner’s point of view, no adjustment at all.

How do reasonable adjustments relate to SEN support and EHCPs?

They overlap but are not the same duty. Many FE learners are both disabled under the Equality Act and have special educational needs under the Children and Families Act 2014.

• Reasonable adjustments come from the Equality Act and are owed to disabled learners of any age.
• SEN support is the special educational provision colleges must use best endeavours to secure for learners with SEN, under section 66 of the Children and Families Act 2014.
• EHCP provision in section F of an EHC plan is a specific legal entitlement the local authority must secure.

One plan can and should hold all three, clearly labelled, so staff know what is a legal requirement and what is good practice. See the SEND Code of Practice for post-16 for how chapter 7 frames SEN support in colleges.

How should you agree a reasonable adjustment with a learner?

Start with the learner’s own account of what gets in the way and what helps, then agree specific, observable changes. A four-step cycle works well:

1. Understand

Ask open questions before suggesting solutions. “Which parts of the course are harder than they should be?” gets better information than “Do you need extra time?” The learner voice conversation template and the learner voice question bank give question sets that work for 16 to 19 learners, adults and apprentices.

2. Agree

Write the adjustment so that someone who has never met the learner could deliver it. Compare:

Record who will deliver it, from when, and when it will be reviewed. Share the agreement with the learner in a format they can use. If the learner disagrees with any part, record that too. A reasonable adjustments agreement template can help, and the adjustment ideas finder gives starting points.

3. Deliver

Tell every member of staff who needs to know, and only them. Then check the adjustment actually happens. The most common failure in FE is not refusal; it is the agreed adjustment never reaching the cover tutor, the workshop technician or the exams office. A simple delivery log, even a weekly tick, shows quickly where support is slipping. See recording support delivery evidence.

4. Review

Ask the learner whether it helped, then keep, change or stop it. An adjustment the learner never uses may be the wrong adjustment, or one they feel uncomfortable using in front of peers. Reviewing whether support worked covers review questions and how to record the outcome.

What are common reasonable adjustments for students in college?

These examples are illustrative, not a menu. The right adjustment depends on the learner and the course.

• Teaching: materials in advance, recorded sessions, reduced copying from the board, clear written instructions alongside verbal ones, seating choice.
• Assessment (non-exam): alternative formats of evidence where the standard allows, extended deadlines agreed in advance, a reader or scribe, use of a word processor.
• Environment: a quiet space for breaks, adjusted lighting, accessible workshop layouts, lockers near rooms.
• Timetable and attendance: adjusted start times for medical appointments or fatigue, flexibility in attendance targets where absence is disability related, a phased start.
• Communication: a single named contact, written follow-up after meetings, advance notice of room or staff changes.
• Technology: text-to-speech, speech-to-text, screen readers, mind-mapping tools. See assistive technology.

Fictional example: Priya, 17, is on a level 3 business course and is autistic. In her first conversation she says the hardest part is group work where roles change without warning. The agreed adjustments are a fixed role in group tasks, advance notice of group changes by email, and a five-minute early release from the last session on Fridays to avoid the crowded corridor. At the six-week review she says the fixed role helped, the early release did not matter, and she now wants help with presentations. The team keeps the first two, stops the early release and adds rehearsal time with her tutor. For specific groups, see neurodivergent learners in FE, the neurodiversity glossary entry and mental health support in FE.

What records should you keep?

Keep enough to show what was agreed, why, that it was delivered and whether it worked. At minimum:

1. The learner’s description of the barrier, in their words where possible.
2. The agreed adjustments, who delivers them, start date and review date.
3. Any disagreement or refusal, and the reason given.
4. Evidence of delivery, including missed support and how it was recovered.
5. Review outcomes: keep, change or stop.

Disability and health information is special category data under UK GDPR. Restrict access to people who need it, and share the adjustment, not the diagnosis, with most staff.

How does Inclusion Studio support reasonable adjustments?

Inclusion Studio is learner support software being built for England FE colleges and apprenticeship providers. It is at pre-pilot stage: a clickable prototype with fictional learners exists, and the production application is in development using synthetic data only. The planned journey follows the cycle above: capture learner voice, agree a support plan the learner has seen (with disagreement recorded), track delivered and missed support, and run reviews that ask the learner whether it helped. Employer contacts see only the workplace adjustments and their own actions. The provider remains responsible for meeting its legal duties. If you would like to help shape it, see the pilot programme. See reasonable adjustments tracking for how each adjustment is followed from agreement to review.