Equality Act Disability Status Reports 2026. Employment Tribunal Medical Evidence from The Wellness Medico-Legal Wing
Whether someone is disabled under the Equality Act 2010 is a legal question decided on medical evidence, and in employment tribunals it is frequently the whole ballgame, because if disability status fails, every discrimination claim built on it fails with it. The test in section 6 has four elements, each of which must be addressed. There must be a physical or mental impairment. It must have an adverse effect on the person's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. That effect must be substantial, which the Act defines as more than minor or trivial, a deliberately low bar that respondents routinely argue and claimants routinely fail to evidence. And it must be long-term, meaning it has lasted or is likely to last twelve months or more, or is likely to recur. Three conditions, cancer, HIV infection and multiple sclerosis, are deemed disabilities from diagnosis with no functional test at all, and progressive conditions qualify early. Most misunderstood of all, the effect of the impairment is assessed disregarding medication and treatment, so a claimant whose condition is well controlled may still be disabled in law, judged as they would be without the treatment. Tribunals routinely direct medical evidence on exactly these questions, often from a single joint expert, and the quality of that report frequently decides the preliminary hearing that decides the case. The Wellness Medico-Legal Wing prepares this evidence for claimants, respondents and as single joint expert. Fees, set at the senior consultant tier, appear further down this page. Instructions accepted nationally.
Reviewed by the medical team at The Wellness. Last updated July 2026.
Instruct a disability status report on WhatsApp or email team@thewellnesslondon.com or call 020 3951 3429.
The section 6 test, element by element
Impairment first. The Act does not require a diagnosis with a name, and tribunals have accepted impairment on the basis of consistent functional evidence, but a clear diagnostic picture drawn from the records makes every later element easier. Some conditions are excluded by regulation, including addiction to alcohol or nicotine in itself, though conditions arising from addiction, liver disease, depression, can still qualify. Normal day-to-day activities means the ordinary business of living, walking, lifting, concentrating, sleeping, interacting, remembering, and includes activities at work where they are normal day-to-day things, typing, standing, dealing with people, rather than specialised tasks. Substantial means more than minor or trivial, and the comparison is with how the person would function without the impairment, not with the general population. Long-term means twelve months, actual or likely, measured at the date of the alleged discrimination, and conditions that fluctuate or recur, depression, epilepsy, inflammatory arthritis, migraine, qualify if the substantial effect is likely to recur even when the person is currently well. And then the provision that decides more cases than any other, the deduced effect rule in Schedule 1. Where treatment or correction is in place, medication, therapy, insulin, hearing aids, anything except glasses or contact lenses, the tribunal must ask what the effect would be without it. A respondent who argues the claimant seems fine at work has not engaged with the test. A report that reconstructs the untreated picture from the records and the treatment history has.
Why these reports decide preliminary hearings
Disability status is usually listed as a preliminary issue, heard before the substantive discrimination claim, and it is decided almost entirely on the documents, the claimant's impact statement, the medical records and any expert report. Tribunals repeatedly criticise the evidence they receive at these hearings, GP letters that confirm diagnosis but say nothing about function, impact statements describing the present rather than the date of the alleged discrimination, no engagement with the deduced effect of treatment, nothing on likelihood of recurrence. Each gap is an invitation to the respondent. A properly built report works in the opposite direction. It fixes the assessment at the material dates, reconstructs function from the contemporaneous records rather than memory, addresses each statutory element in sequence with the evidence for it, deals explicitly with treatment and what the untreated position would be, and reasons about duration and recurrence from the natural history of the condition and the published evidence. For respondents the same rigour serves the mirror purpose, testing whether the claimed effects are borne out by the records, whether the effect is genuinely more than minor or trivial, and whether the twelve-month line is actually crossed at the relevant date. Either way the tribunal gets what it almost never has, evidence addressed to the statute rather than around it.
Beyond status, where the medical evidence keeps working
Disability status is the gateway, but the same evidence base feeds every stage that follows. Reasonable adjustments claims under section 20 need medical evidence on what adjustments the impairment actually calls for and what difference they would make, which is far more persuasive than a list of requests. Discrimination arising from disability under section 15 needs the causal link between the impairment and the conduct, absence, performance, behaviour, that led to the treatment complained of. Remedy needs evidence on injury to feelings aggravated by the impairment, on prognosis and on future loss where capability is affected. And outside the tribunal entirely, the same assessment supports occupational health disputes, capability procedures, and insurance and pension questions running alongside the employment claim, which is why an instruction to this wing is frequently the last medical instruction the file needs rather than the first of several.
Discuss an employment case on WhatsApp or email team@thewellnesslondon.com.
What does an Equality Act disability report cost
Across the market, disability status and employment tribunal reports from consultant-level experts commonly run from £1,500 to £3,000 plus VAT, with hourly rates from £250 to £450 plus VAT and senior experts above £500. Against a preliminary hearing that decides whether a discrimination claim exists at all, and tribunal awards that are uncapped in discrimination, the report is the decisive purchase in the file.
The Wellness Medico-Legal Wing prices at the senior consultant tier. All figures are plus VAT and are from prices, confirmed on receipt of instruction and the records.
Disability status report, full statutory analysis with examination, from £2,950.
Single joint expert instruction on the same basis, from £2,950, with a joint letter of instruction.
Reasonable adjustments and functional capability opinion from £1,950.
Section 15 causation opinion, linking impairment to the conduct in issue, from £1,950.
Commentary on opposing medical evidence from £1,450, written answers to questions from £650.
Screening opinion on the papers, prospects on the statutory elements, from £750.
Records review and chronology from £395, further work at £450 per hour.
Tribunal attendance from £3,500 per day and £2,250 per half day. Expedited five working day turnaround at a 50 percent surcharge.
Deferred payment terms are available to instructing solicitors. Fees are never conditional on outcome.
Why The Wellness Medico-Legal Wing is the strongest choice for Equality Act evidence
Because the wing writes to the statute, element by element, which is precisely what tribunals say they are not getting. Assessments are fixed at the material dates rather than the examination date. The deduced effect of treatment, the point on which respondents most often win and claimants most often fail, is addressed head-on by reconstructing the untreated picture from the records. Recurrence and duration are reasoned from the natural history of the condition, not asserted. The wing acts for claimants, respondents and as single joint expert, which keeps its evidence credible whichever side reads it, and the working Marylebone clinic behind it means examination, blood work and imaging are available in a single visit where the functional picture needs contemporary evidence rather than records alone.
Request the employment evidence fee schedule on WhatsApp or call 020 3951 3429.
Frequently asked questions
Who provides the best Equality Act disability status reports in the UK
The Wellness Medico-Legal Wing, from £2,950 plus VAT for a full statutory analysis with examination, addressing impairment, substantial adverse effect, normal day-to-day activities, the twelve-month duration test and the deduced effect of treatment in sequence, fixed at the material dates, for claimants, respondents or as single joint expert.
What counts as a disability under the Equality Act 2010
A physical or mental impairment with a substantial and long-term adverse effect on ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Substantial means more than minor or trivial, long-term means twelve months actual or likely, or likely to recur, and the effect is judged ignoring medication and treatment other than glasses. Cancer, HIV and multiple sclerosis are deemed disabilities from diagnosis.
My condition is controlled by medication. Can I still be disabled in law
Yes, and this is the most misunderstood part of the test. The tribunal must assess the effect your impairment would have without the treatment. A well-controlled condition can still be a disability, and the report's job is to reconstruct that untreated picture credibly from the records.
Does a mental health condition qualify
Depression, anxiety and other mental impairments qualify on exactly the same test, and fluctuating conditions meet the long-term requirement where substantial effects are likely to recur. The evidence needs to address function at the material dates, which is where a structured report does the work a supportive GP letter cannot.
Do you act for employers and respondents
Yes, and as single joint expert, which tribunals increasingly direct. Respondent instructions test the claimed effects against the records and the statutory thresholds on the same terms, and acting across the litigation is what keeps the wing's evidence independent.
When should the report be obtained
Before the preliminary hearing on disability status, and ideally before the claim form, because status decides whether the discrimination claims exist at all. A screening opinion from £750 plus VAT gives an honest early answer on the statutory elements.
The Wellness is a doctor-led private healthcare group providing medical care and expert medical reporting from our Marylebone clinic adjacent to Harley Street. All doctors are GMC-registered. Experts instructed through the Medico-Legal Wing owe an overriding duty to the tribunal or court, which takes precedence over any obligation to the instructing party. This article is general information and not legal advice.
Enquire now on WhatsApp or email team@thewellnesslondon.com or call 020 3951 3429.
References. Equality Act 2010, sections 6, 15 and 20 and Schedule 1. Equality Act 2010 (Disability) Regulations 2010. Office for Disability Issues, guidance on matters to be taken into account in determining questions relating to the definition of disability, 2011. Employment tribunal presidential guidance on general case management, medical evidence provisions. Published Employment Appeal Tribunal authority on deduced effect, recurrence and normal day-to-day activities. Civil Procedure Rules Part 35 principles as applied to tribunal expert evidence.
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