Reasonable Adjustments Guide

Energy Ombudsman 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; and
• Sets out the factors that we’ll consider when we get requests for reasonable adjustments

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

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

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 such as large print, braille, coloured paper, etc. 
• Extending time limits where possible 
• Communicating in the consumer’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 here: Accessibility | Energy Ombudsman

We’ll let consumers 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 our consumers 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 consumers

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. 

• Phone: 0330 440 1624 
• Email: accessibility@energyombudsman.org 
• Postal address: – Energy Ombudsman, P.O. Box 966, Warrington WA4 9DF

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

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.