UK: Reasonable adjustments for disability - employers may need to pay for private counselling to assist return to work

Employers may need to consider paying for an employee with work-related stress and depression to have private psychiatric counselling and cognitive behavioural therapy recommended by a clinical psychiatrist.

The EAT in Croft Vets Ltd v Butcher considered that it was a reasonable adjustment to pay for such a specific form of support in the workplace to help the employee return to work and cope with her work-related difficulties, in a situation where the condition was largely caused by work. There was no evidence that the treatment would have been available on the NHS in the appropriate timescale.

The EAT made clear that this was not imposing an obligation on employers to pay for medical treatment to improve a disabled employee's health generally. There will only be an obligation if recommended therapy is work-related and aimed at assisting an employee with stress/depression cope at work. Presumably the issue of whether the condition was caused by work may influence both (i) the type of treatment recommended and whether this is sufficiently work-related and (ii) whether it is reasonable for the employer to pick up the tab. The availability of free treatment ought also to be relevant.