How much do reasonable adjustments for dyslexia cost employers?

According to the Job Accommodation Network's survey of 1,425 employers (updated September 2025), 61% of workplace adjustments cost nothing at all to implement. Of those that do cost something, the median one-time cost is $300. Only 6% of accommodations involve ongoing costs, with a median annual figure of $2,400. Most dyslexia adjustments, such as sending agendas in advance, extra time for written work, or quiet workspace access, fall into the zero-cost category.

Can my employer refuse reasonable adjustments for dyslexia because they are too expensive?

Rarely. Under the Equality Act 2010 (UK), the test is whether an adjustment is 'reasonable', taking into account the employer's size, resources, and the availability of external funding such as Access to Work. Under the ADA (US), 'undue hardship' requires significant difficulty or expense relative to the employer's overall financial resources. A medium or large employer refusing a policy change or a £200 software licence on cost grounds would struggle to defend that decision at tribunal or before the EEOC.

Does Access to Work pay for dyslexia technology at work?

Yes. Access to Work is a UK government grant that covers specialist software such as text-to-speech tools, screen readers, and dictation software. The standard award covers up to the Access to Work cap, which was £69,260 for 2025-26 and 2026-27. A new Tech Fund introduced in 2026 covers 100% of assistive technology costs for newly employed disabled workers under six weeks in post. Because Access to Work pays directly, the employer may pay nothing for the technology adjustments a dyslexic employee needs.

What counts as an unreasonable cost for a dyslexia adjustment under UK law?

There is no fixed cost threshold under the Equality Act 2010. Employment tribunals assess reasonableness by weighing the cost against the employer's size and financial resources, the effectiveness of the adjustment, and the availability of external funding (such as Access to Work). A large employer with hundreds of employees would need to show very substantial cost or disruption before a tribunal would accept that an adjustment was unreasonable. In the Jandu v Marks and Spencer case (2022), the tribunal found that the required adjustment would have cost M&S nothing, and the failure to make it resulted in an award of £53,855.

61% of reasonable adjustments cost employers nothing

61% of the workplace adjustments employers actually make cost them nothing to put in place. That figure comes from the Job Accommodation Network's employer survey (askjan.org, updated September 2025), covering 1,425 employers across industries and company sizes, from small businesses to Fortune 500 firms.

Of the 39% that did have a cost, the median was a one-time payment of $300. The survey also found that 6% of accommodations involved ongoing annual costs, with a median of $2,400.

If you're a dyslexic employee who has been waiting to ask for adjustments because you assumed your employer would push back on cost, this data is worth sitting with. The expectation that adjustments are expensive is widespread. The evidence behind it is thin.

What the data actually shows

JAN is a free service run by the US Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy. Their employer survey covers respondents who had contacted JAN for guidance and then went on to implement accommodations. It's the most consistently cited source on accommodation costs in the US, and the September 2025 update draws on employer contacts from 2019 to 2024.

61%

of employers surveyed by JAN reported their accommodation cost nothing to implement. Median one-time cost for those with a cost: $300. Source: Job Accommodation Network, "Low Cost, High Impact" report, September 2025 (askjan.org/topics/costs.cfm).

The numbers break down like this: 872 of the 1,425 employers (61%) said the accommodation cost nothing at all. 466 (33%) reported a one-time cost with a median of $300. 87 (6%) had ongoing annual costs with a median of $2,400.

Those aren't theoretical numbers. They're from employers who had already made the accommodations and were reporting back on what they'd spent.

The survey also asked about benefits. 85% of employers who made adjustments said it helped them retain a valuable employee. 52% reported increased productivity. 48% said it reduced the cost of training a replacement.

The data tells you that "we can't afford this" is almost certainly false for the specific request you're considering, whatever it is.

What dyslexia adjustments actually cost

Most dyslexia adjustments fall into the zero-cost category because they're policy changes, not purchases. Here's a table of common adjustments and their realistic cost to an employer.

Adjustment	Typical employer cost
Agendas and documents sent in advance of meetings	£0
Verbal check-ins instead of written updates	£0
Instructions given in writing as well as verbally	£0
Extra time for written tasks or proofreading	£0
Quiet workspace or desk away from open-plan noise	£0 (in most offices)
Microsoft Immersive Reader (M365 users)	£0 (already licensed)
Noise-cancelling headphones	£20 to £200
Read&Write (Texthelp) text-to-speech toolbar	£0 if covered by Access to Work (UK) or from £219/yr otherwise
Dragon Professional dictation software	£0 if covered by Access to Work (UK); approx. $500 one-off otherwise
Workplace needs assessment	£0 if covered by Access to Work (UK)

UK employees have an additional layer here. Access to Work is a government grant that pays for specialist assistive software, a workplace needs assessment, and other technology. In most cases, the employer contributes nothing toward the cost of the tools. The grant goes directly to the employee or the supplier.

That means the technology adjustments, often the ones employees assume will be most contentious, can cost the employer precisely £0, because Access to Work covers them. You can check what you might be eligible for using the Access to Work calculator.

Before you ask, categorise your adjustment. If it's a policy change (earlier documents, written instructions, extra time), the cost to your employer is zero. If it's software, UK employees can route it through Access to Work at no cost to the employer at all.

When "too expensive" actually holds up legally

Both UK and US law have a threshold below which employers can decline an adjustment on cost grounds. In practice, that threshold is much higher than most employers claim.

Under the Equality Act 2010, an employer must make an adjustment unless doing so is not "reasonable." The Employment Appeal Tribunal has confirmed that reasonableness depends on the employer's size and resources, the effectiveness of the adjustment, and the availability of external funding such as Access to Work. A company with hundreds of employees refusing a £200 software licence on cost grounds has essentially no legal cover.

Under the ADA, the equivalent is "undue hardship," defined as significant difficulty or expense in relation to the employer's overall financial resources, the number of employees, the type of operation, and the nature of the accommodation. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (eeoc.gov) has consistently held that the bar for undue hardship is high, and that employers must consider all available resources, not just a single department's budget.

The case that illustrated this most clearly in UK law was Jandu v Marks and Spencer (2022). The Employment Tribunal found that the adjustment M&S needed to make was to discount disability-related elements from Rita Jandu's redundancy score. The tribunal's explicit finding was that this adjustment would have cost M&S nothing. They still didn't make it. The result: an award of £53,855.

The tribunal described M&S's approach as demonstrating "closed minds and bias." The adjustment they failed to make would have cost them nothing. One extra point in the redundancy score would have saved Jandu's job.

Jandu v Marks and Spencer Plc (Case No. 2200275/2021), Employment Tribunal, 2022

The M&S case is a useful reference because it shows what actually happens when an employer uses cost as an excuse without interrogating the claim. The adjustment needed was a scoring decision. It required no money, no software, no specialist knowledge. And M&S still said no, twice, and paid nearly £54,000 for doing so.

If your employer says a specific adjustment is too expensive, ask them to show the calculation. Under the Equality Act 2010, they must consider their actual resources, including Access to Work funding. "We don't have the budget" is an assertion, not a legal defence.

The real reason most dyslexic employees haven't asked

The JAN data deals with what adjustments cost employers. It doesn't explain why so many dyslexic employees haven't asked for them.

Talking to dyslexic employees and reading through the forums and support groups where they ask questions about work, the reason most commonly given isn't cost. It's the fear of being difficult. Of being the person who makes demands. Of being seen differently by colleagues or managers who previously knew nothing about the dyslexia.

That's a legitimate concern. Disclosure does change relationships, sometimes. But there's a cost to not asking that's just as real, and more reliably calculable.

Re-reading an email three times before sending. Spending 45 minutes on a document that takes a non-dyslexic colleague 20 minutes. Taking work home to proofread in private because the open-plan office is too loud to think. That time adds up in ways that are measurable. If you want a concrete number on what that costs you per year in unpaid work, the masking cost calculator runs the maths based on your salary and your specific workarounds.

The adjustment conversation is one where your employer's cost (probably £0 for policy changes) sits against your cost of not having the adjustment (hours per week of masking). Framed that way, the numbers look different.

How to actually start the conversation

Most dyslexic employees who haven't asked don't know where to start. The request can feel vague or exposing when it's just a thought. Getting it onto paper, with specific adjustments matched to specific difficulties, makes the conversation much easier.

The reasonable adjustments builder turns your specific challenges into a conversation plan and a draft email in about two minutes. It's the difference between walking into a meeting with a vague sense that you need help and walking in with a document that says: "these are the tasks I find hard, this is the mechanism, and these are the adjustments that research shows help."

Your employer's cost of reading that: none.

The adjustment you haven't asked for is probably free for your employer to make, and it's costing you hours of unpaid work per week to manage without it. That's the comparison worth making before you decide it's not worth raising.

What to do if your employer pushes back on cost

Some employers do push back. Here's how to respond, depending on what they say.

"We can't afford the software." UK: point them to Access to Work, which pays for assistive technology directly. You apply; the grant goes to you or the supplier; the employer pays nothing. US: ask them to consult the Job Accommodation Network (askjan.org), a free DOL service that provides specific accommodation guidance at no cost to the employer.

"We'd need to treat everyone the same." The Equality Act 2010 (UK) and ADA (US) explicitly permit treating disabled employees differently in order to achieve equal outcomes. Making a reasonable adjustment for a dyslexic employee is not preferential treatment. It's a legal requirement.

"We'll look into it." Get a timescale in writing. ACAS guidance (acas.org.uk) says adjustments should be implemented within a reasonable time. For straightforward policy changes, that's weeks, not months. If nothing happens after two months, put your concern in writing and ask for an update.

"It's not in the budget." Ask which budget they're referring to and whether they've considered Access to Work (UK) or a JAN consultation (US). If the adjustment is a policy change with zero cost, this response doesn't have a factual basis and it's worth saying so, plainly.

If you've been refused an adjustment and you want to understand your legal position, UK employees can contact ACAS for free advice (0300 123 1100). US employees can file a charge with the EEOC or consult the Job Accommodation Network.

A refusal based on cost needs a cost to point to. For policy changes, that cost is zero. For software, UK employees have Access to Work to cover it. If your employer pushes back, ask them to show the number they're concerned about. In most cases, they can't.