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Two colleagues reviewing documents together at a table in an office

Sight or hearing loss and income protection claims: when a return to work assessment can help

/ Employment, Professionals / By

Some claims stall for reasons that have little to do with the medical evidence. The treating team has said what it can, the claimant is willing to talk about work, the employer is cooperative, and yet nobody can describe what the job would need to look like for a return to be realistic. The file asks a practical question the paperwork cannot answer: what, specifically, gets in the way of this person doing this job, and what would change if the set-up were different?

Where a claim involves sight loss or hearing loss, that gap is common. A specialist return to work assessment can fill it. This article is written for income protection insurers, claims teams and rehabilitation professionals, and sets out where an assessment may help, where it does not belong, and what a useful report contains.

Two colleagues reviewing documents together at a table in an office

What the assessment is, and what it does not decide

A return to work assessment, in this context, is a practical review of the barriers a person with sight loss or hearing loss meets in a particular job, and of the adjustments, equipment and working arrangements that could remove or reduce them. It is specialist and non-clinical, and it sits alongside occupational health, audiology, ophthalmology and rehabilitation input without replacing any of them. It may also be called a visual impairment workplace assessment or a hearing loss workplace assessment, depending on the condition.

Its limits matter just as much. An assessment does not decide whether someone is fit for work, and it does not decide whether a claim is payable or should continue. Those judgements belong to clinicians, the insurer and the policy terms. What the assessment adds is evidence about the workplace side of the question: what the job currently demands, what in the set-up creates a barrier, and what could be changed.

Separating the condition from an unadjusted workplace

Part of the difficulty in a return often sits in the set-up rather than the person. Small, low-contrast text on a screen, a meeting held in a noisy room, or a system that cannot be used with the accessibility features already built into the computer can each create a barrier that a different arrangement might remove.

The law frames the same distinction. Under section 20 of the Equality Act 2010, an employer’s duty to make reasonable adjustments arises where a provision, criterion or practice, a physical feature, or the lack of an auxiliary aid puts a disabled person at a substantial disadvantage compared with people who are not disabled. Acas states that employers must make reasonable adjustments where someone’s absence record, sickness record or delay in returning to work is because of, or linked to, their disability.

A good assessment keeps the two apart on the page. It describes the functional difficulties the person reports and demonstrates, shows which are features of the current set-up, and indicates what would be likely to change with specific adjustments in place. It offers no view on diagnosis or prognosis, and whether any of it bears on a policy decision is for the insurer to judge.

The evidence on early intervention, and its limits

A 2023 report by WPI Economics for the Association of British Insurers describes income protection insurers as one of the main routes to vocational rehabilitation in the UK, using an approach that considers health alongside personal and workplace factors.

The research points the same way, with a clear caveat. The independent review of vocational rehabilitation by Waddell, Burton and Kendall, published on GOV.UK by the Department for Work and Pensions, concluded that the longer anyone is off work, the greater the obstacles to return, and that effective rehabilitation needs work-focused healthcare and accommodating workplaces together. A 2015 Cochrane review of 14 randomised trials found that workplace interventions improved time to first return to work compared with usual care, although the effect on lasting return was less certain. A 2018 systematic review by Cullen and colleagues found strong evidence that interventions combining at least two of healthcare, service coordination and work modification reduced time away from work.

The caveat is that this evidence comes mainly from musculoskeletal, pain-related and mental health conditions, and the Waddell and Burton review expressly left out severe conditions such as blindness, noting their different and specialised needs. No study specific to sight loss or hearing loss was found in the sources checked. Applying the principle here is reasonable, but it has not been demonstrated for these groups in the same way.

How an adjustments report supports partial or phased return

GOV.UK guidance for employers explains that a fit note marked “may be fit for work” can point to general options such as a phased return, altered hours, amended duties or workplace adaptations, to be discussed between employer and employee. Acas says the length of a phased return should be agreed together and reviewed regularly, with the employer ready to extend it or change duties.

Neither document supplies sensory detail. A report showing which tasks can be done with the current set-up, which need an adjustment first and which can wait gives a phased plan something to build on, with hours rising in step with the adjustments. Fatigue deserves explicit planning, since lip-reading, close listening or sustained visual effort can be tiring in itself.

No-cost and low-cost workplace adjustments

The table below is a starting point rather than a prescription. Every role and person differs, which is the reason for an individual assessment.

Area Suggested adjustment Why it helps
Screen work Review text size, contrast and magnification, and use features already built into the computer before buying anything Avoids duplicate spending and often removes the barrier quickly
Documents and systems Check that key systems and file formats work with assistive technology, and agree accessible formats Prevents a return that stalls because one essential system cannot be used
Meetings Agree seating, lighting, speaker order and, where needed, live captioning or a note taker Gives equal access to the discussions where decisions are made
Calls and video Offer text or chat alternatives, captioned calls and a quiet place to work Removes the most draining parts of the day as a source of avoidable difficulty
Travel and building Plan and trial the route, agree flexible start times and walk the building before day one Reduces the unknowns that most often derail a first week
Hours and fatigue Build breaks into a phased pattern and review it as hours increase Treats sensory fatigue as expected rather than as a setback
Equipment lead times Order and configure agreed equipment before the return date Stops the first weeks being spent waiting for tools
Colleagues Brief the team on practical communication and guiding, with the person’s agreement Gives the person support from day one without relying on goodwill alone

Access to Work as a funding route

Access to Work is a government grant that can help pay for practical support, including specialist equipment, assistive software and support workers such as a BSL interpreter or job coach. GOV.UK states that the grant does not have to be repaid. Applicants must be in paid work or about to start or return to paid work within the next 12 weeks, and must live and work in England, Scotland or Wales, as Northern Ireland has a different system.

The limit matters when planning a return. GOV.UK states that Access to Work will not pay for reasonable adjustments, the changes an employer must legally make, although it will advise the employer if changes should be made as reasonable adjustments. A report that distinguishes what an employer is likely to be expected to provide from what may suit an Access to Work application saves time later. The decision on any grant rests with Access to Work, so current GOV.UK guidance should be checked.

What this means for claims teams and rehabilitation professionals

The most useful reports for claims readers identify the role and tasks assessed and say how the information was gathered. They describe functional barriers in plain language, linked to specific tasks, and distinguish what the person reports from what was observed. They also state what falls within the assessor’s remit and what does not, so that nobody mistakes the document for a medical or fitness view.

Beyond that, a report should list each recommended adjustment with its rationale, a sense of priority and lead time, and a note of whether it depends on employer action, equipment or funding such as Access to Work. It should show how the adjustments could shape a phased pattern without fixing dates or drawing conclusions about capacity, and it should say plainly where something could not be assessed.

Hints and tips for the individual

  • Describe your working day in detail, including the tasks that go smoothly as well as those that do not.

  • Say which situations tire you most, such as long meetings, calls or screen work, so they can be planned around.

  • Ask for adjustments to be tested before the return date rather than in the first week.

  • Keep a short note of what works as hours increase.

  • Agree beforehand who will be told what about your sight or hearing.

Building awareness and communication

A return is easier when colleagues know what practical support looks like. Short, factual briefings agreed with the person, covering how to guide, how to speak and how to share documents, are usually enough, and they make routine working easier without singling anyone out.

Legal rights and support

Under the Equality Act 2010, a person is disabled where they have an impairment with a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Schedule 1 paragraph 8 treats someone with a progressive condition as meeting the test before the effect becomes substantial if it is likely to do so. Paragraph 5 ignores the effect of treatment and aids such as hearing aids, but takes ordinary glasses and contact lenses into account. Anyone certified as sight impaired or severely sight impaired by a consultant ophthalmologist is deemed disabled under regulation 7 of the Equality Act 2010 (Disability) Regulations 2010. Where the definition is met, the employer must make reasonable adjustments and, as Acas confirms, is responsible for paying for them, although what is reasonable depends on the situation. The duty does not arise where the employer does not know, and could not reasonably be expected to know, of the disability and the disadvantage (Schedule 8). Whether the definition is met for a particular person depends on their circumstances, and this article is general information rather than legal advice. It is not insurance advice either.

Summary

For a claim involving sight loss or hearing loss, a specialist return to work assessment can turn a general intention to go back into a specific, workable plan. It separates what the condition affects from what an unadjusted workplace adds, gives a phased return something concrete to follow, and clarifies what the employer is likely to provide and what may be a candidate for Access to Work. It informs decisions without making them, and the earlier it is considered, the more room there is to have adjustments in place before day one.

Watch the short film

This short film follows a case manager who receives an adjustments report that says only to consider adjustments. They cannot action a single line, so they start asking for three things: the barrier named, the adjustment and what it is for, and what to do first. The next report said all three. The film lasts just over a minute.

Frequently Asked Questions

No. It is a practical, non-clinical review of barriers and possible adjustments. Judgements about fitness for work and about claims sit with clinicians, the insurer and the policy terms.

Research on vocational rehabilitation suggests that earlier attention to work obstacles is generally better, so it may be worth considering as soon as a return is being discussed or when a claim stalls on the question of what the job would need. That evidence is not specific to sight or hearing loss.

No. GOV.UK states that Access to Work will not pay for reasonable adjustments. It can help with other support, such as specialist equipment or support workers, subject to eligibility and its own decision.

No. Occupational health is a clinical and advisory service. A workplace assessment adds sensory-specific, practical detail alongside it and does not replace it.

If you or someone in your team is deaf, has hearing loss or is visually impaired and would like expert, tailored support to stay productive and comfortable at work, you can arrange a workplace assessment with us.

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