What tribunals expect as evidence in adjustments cases
Ryan Hoare · Founder, TryMosaic · Last reviewed
This guide is part of our complete guide to reasonable adjustments tribunal cases.
See also: Recording reasonable adjustments: what a tribunal would look for.
The bundle decides the case
Before a hearing, both sides agree a bundle: the set of documents the tribunal will read. In an adjustments case the bundle is usually where the outcome becomes visible. If the employer's side of the bundle is thin, the tribunal is left with the employee's account and whatever the employer's witnesses can remember under cross-examination, months or years after the events.
The documents that matter
- The request. The employee's own words, dated. If the request was verbal, the note made of it at the time.
- Meeting notes. Who attended, what was discussed, what was agreed to be done next, dated and shared with the employee afterwards.
- The decision, with reasons. What was agreed, what was refused and why, and what alternatives were offered. A refusal without a recorded reason leaves a gap exactly where the tribunal will look hardest.
- Advice obtained. Occupational health reports, Access to Work assessments, and evidence the employer acted on them or explained why not.
- Proof of implementation. Purchase orders, rota changes, IT tickets: evidence the adjustment moved from agreed to real, and when.
- Reviews. Notes showing the employer checked the adjustment was working, and adapted it when it was not.
What weakens a bundle
- Gaps at the important moments. A complete email trail about desk booking and nothing at all about the refusal is a pattern tribunals notice.
- Documents created after the dispute began, presented as if contemporaneous. Metadata and inconsistencies surface quickly under scrutiny.
- Records that can be silently edited. If your system allows history to be rewritten, expect the reliability of every document in it to be probed.
- Inconsistency between witnesses and documents. Where the paper and the testimony diverge, the paper usually wins.
Building the record before you need it
None of this can be fixed at the point a claim arrives. The employers who defend adjustments claims well are the ones whose ordinary process produces the bundle as a by-product: requests captured in a structured way, decisions recorded with reasons at the time, implementation tracked, reviews logged. That is a process design question, and it is the reason record quality features so heavily in our guide to recording reasonable adjustments.
[TODO: verify] This section will carry examples of how evidence quality featured in real tribunal reasoning once our tribunal dataset is complete.
This guide is general guidance, not legal advice. If you are preparing for a hearing, take advice from an employment law specialist.
If you are evaluating vendors, book a short TryMosaic demo and put the questions above to us first.
References
- Employment tribunals (GOV.UK)
- Equality Act 2010, section 20: duty to make adjustments (legislation.gov.uk)
- Reasonable adjustments at work (ACAS)
- Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)
Related guidance
Frequently asked questions
What evidence does an employer need in an adjustments claim?
The contemporaneous record of the process: the request, meeting notes, decisions with reasons, any occupational health or Access to Work advice, proof that agreed adjustments were implemented, and review notes. Documents made at the time carry far more weight than later recollections.
Are emails enough as evidence?
Emails are contemporaneous documents and tribunals read them, but a case built on scattered emails usually has gaps at the decisive moments, especially around refusals and implementation. A structured record is easier to present and harder to challenge.
Does the employee need evidence too?
Yes. The employee will typically evidence the request they made, the disadvantage they experienced, and how the employer responded. This is one reason a shared, structured record serves both sides better than fragments held separately.
Can notes written up after the event be used?
They can be included, but their weight drops sharply, and presenting late documents as if they were made at the time is a serious credibility risk. A brief note made on the day is worth more than a polished account written after the claim arrived.
What should we do about record-keeping now, before any dispute?
Design the process so the record builds itself: structured requests, decisions recorded with reasons at the time, implementation tracked to completion, and reviews logged. If a claim never comes, the same record is simply a well-run adjustments process.
Published · Last updated · This guide will next be reviewed by .
TryMosaic is the system of record for workplace adjustments under the Equality Act 2010.