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Reasonable Adjustments Guide

Our commitment

​POPLA is committed to making sure that people with disabilities and others needing additional support aren’t disadvantaged in accessing our services. To this end, we’ll make reasonable adjustments for those who need them. This guide won’t explain how we’ll approach every situation - instead it:  

  • ​ ​Confirms our commitment to improving accessibility for everyone who accesses our service 
  • ​Sets out some of the basic principles of our commitment to provide reasonable adjustments for people with disabilities or additional needs 
  • ​Sets out the factors that we’ll consider when we receive requests for reasonable adjustments 

What is a reasonable adjustment?

Reasonable adjustments are changes we can make that reduce or remove a disadvantage related to someone’s disability or additional needs. Examples include:  

  • ​Allowing more time than we normally would for someone to provide information that we ask for 
  • ​Providing additional support such as an interpreter to help appellants with a communication requirement 

What reasonable adjustments can we offer?

​We don’t have a set list of reasonable adjustments – the adjustments will depend on each individual’s needs. We’ll discuss the requirements with the person requesting them and will try to reach an understanding on what is reasonable given the circumstances. We won’t make assumptions about whether someone needs any reasonable adjustments or what those adjustments should be. Some adjustments we can make include (but are not limited to):  

​ ​Providing information in alternative formats (eg large print, braille or coloured paper)  

  • ​Extending time limits where possible  
  • ​Communicating in the  appellant’s preferred method (e.g. email, telephone, or posted letter)  
  • ​Communicating via representatives or intermediaries  

​ ​You can find more information about the type of adjustments we can make on our Accessibility page.

​How we’ll notify appellants that they can request reasonable adjustments

​We’ll let appellants using our service know that we can provide reasonable adjustments in the following ways: 

  • ​By including this information in written communications 
  • ​By asking over the telephone whether appellants might need reasonable adjustments 
  • ​By including a note on any published documents to say, if requested, we can provide the document in alternative formats
  • ​By publishing our commitment to reasonable adjustments on our website 
  • ​By working with colleagues and other stakeholders to make sure they are aware of these guidelines 
  • ​By ensuring colleagues share this information with appellants

How can appellants request reasonable adjustments?

If you need to contact us to request any reasonable adjustments, support or need to report any accessibility issues, you can do this over the phone, online or in writing.

How do we decide what’s reasonable?

There is no legal definition of what’s ‘reasonable’ but there are several factors we will consider, including but not limited to:

  • How effective the adjustment is in preventing or reducing the disadvantage for the consumer
  • The practicality of us making the adjustments
  • Our resources in providing the assistance, including external and financial
  • Any disruption to our service or business that making the adjustment could cause

Our response to requests for reasonable adjustments

In most cases we’ll be able to agree and deliver reasonable adjustments easily and quickly. In some cases, we might need to review the request and consider how we can best help overcome the difficulty the consumer is experiencing. When a request for reasonable adjustments is made, we will confirm, verbally or in writing, what adjustments we can make.

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