By Daniel Morgan-Williams, Founding Director, Visualise Training and Consultancy Ltd.
Imagine a new starter hands her line manager a form on her first morning. It lists the changes that help her do her job and the support she has used before. The manager says thank you, files it and sets a reminder to come back to it. Three months later, it is still in the folder.
The Health Adjustment Passport is designed to prevent exactly that. It is a Department for Work and Pensions form, first published in July 2022 and most recently updated in January 2026. It is the individual’s own tool, not an employer form. It helps a person identify the adjustments and in-work support they may need, apply for Access to Work, and talk to an employer about what would help. How an employer responds to it matters a great deal.
That response is where the value is won or lost, and it is the part HR and occupational health teams control.
What the passport is, and what it is not
The Government’s 2023 Health and Disability White Paper committed to keep using the passport across England, Scotland and Wales so that disabled jobseekers do not have to repeat their conditions or adjustments. It also described trials aimed at reducing repeated disclosure and, where in-work needs have not changed, avoiding a new assessment. It could not be confirmed how far those trials have progressed, so no claim is made about what they have achieved.
What can be said with confidence is the principle. The passport records what a person tells an employer they need. It does not say how to deliver it in a particular building, with particular systems and in a particular role. A line saying that someone needs text enlarged on screen, or needs to lipread in meetings, is a starting point. It does not say which software works with the network, where a person should sit in a meeting room, or how the phone system can be set up.
The DWP’s own research, Journeys to Access to Work, published in June 2026, points to the same gap from the other side. Employers described compatibility problems between specialist equipment and organisational systems, and lengthy procurement. Some were unsure which adjustments they were responsible for, and employees in those workplaces received only temporary or minimal support. A passport handed over with no conversation behind it risks repeating that pattern.
Treat it as the opening of a conversation
The most useful thing an employer can do on receiving a passport is to arrange a proper discussion within days, not weeks. Go through it line by line with the person. Ask what each entry means in practice for this job. Ask what has worked before, and what has not. Agree which changes can begin straight away, which need ordering or setting up, and who is responsible for each.
The employee, not the form, is the expert on their own needs. If a conversation shows that something is unclear, or that the role and environment raise questions a form cannot answer, that is the moment to consider a specialist workplace assessment. For sight loss and hearing loss in particular, an assessment looks at the actual desk, the screen, the lighting, the meeting rooms and the systems in use, and sets out practical adjustments in a report the employer can act on.
Four things worth getting right
The first is ownership. Decide who in the organisation receives a passport, who replies, and by when. If the answer is whoever happens to be the line manager, expect uneven results.
The second is confidentiality. A passport contains personal information about a person’s health or disability. Agree with the employee who needs to see it and who does not, and handle it in line with data protection obligations. Many people will share it with a manager but not with a whole team.
The third is follow-through. Record what was agreed and diarise a review. Needs change, roles change and technology changes. A passport that is acted on once and never revisited is only a little better than one that is filed.
The fourth is portability. If the idea of the passport is that someone does not have to explain themselves repeatedly, then an employer who asks for the same information again at every promotion, team move or change of manager is working against it. Information should travel with the person inside the organisation, with their agreement.
Where the passport helps occupational health
For occupational health teams, a passport can speed up what is often the first step in a referral: understanding what the person already knows about their own needs. It can shorten the first appointment and help the clinician focus on the questions only they can answer. It can also help avoid the situation in which an employee has described their needs to three different people and still has no adjustments in place.
It is also a good prompt for a conversation about Access to Work, which funds support beyond the reasonable adjustments employers are required to make. The passport can help someone apply, but an application can take months to be decided, as covered in Waiting for Access to Work. The employer’s own duty to consider adjustments does not wait for that decision.
The test of whether it is working
The simplest test is a question to the employee a month after they handed over the form: what has changed since? If the answer is that something has changed, and that the change was discussed with them first, the passport is doing its job. If the answer is that they are not sure anyone has read it, the form has simply moved the problem from the employee’s head to a folder.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Whether a particular adjustment is reasonable depends on the circumstances.
If you or someone in your team is visually impaired or has hearing loss and would like expert, tailored support to stay productive and comfortable at work, visit our workplace assessments page to arrange a workplace assessment.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Health Adjustment Passport?
It is a DWP form that helps a disabled person or a person with a health condition record the adjustments and in-work support that help them. It is the individual’s tool, used to apply for Access to Work and to talk to an employer.
Does an employer have to accept a Health Adjustment Passport?
The passport is not a legal document that binds an employer. The duty to consider reasonable adjustments comes from the Equality Act 2010 and depends on the circumstances. A passport is, however, a clear way for an employer to know what the person says they need.
Who should see an employee’s passport?
It contains personal health information, so the employee should agree who sees it. Many people are happy to share it with a manager or HR but not with a wider team. It should be handled in line with data protection obligations.
When is a workplace assessment worth arranging?
When the passport raises questions it cannot answer, such as how adjustments will work with a particular role, workstation or system. A specialist workplace assessment gives the employer practical, role-specific recommendations to act on.
Related resources
- Waiting for Access to Work: How to Support Staff with Sight or Hearing Loss in the Meantime
- Your Employee Has Had a Workplace Assessment. What Happens Next?
- Access to Work Delays: A Three-Step Plan for Managers
Sources
- Department for Work and Pensions, Health Adjustment Passport (first published 28 July 2022, last updated 26 January 2026)
- Department for Work and Pensions, Transforming Support: The Health and Disability White Paper (March 2023)
- Department for Work and Pensions, Journeys to Access to Work (Research Report 1136, 25 June 2026)
- Equality Act 2010, section 20 (duty to make reasonable adjustments)
Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash.