What the government’s new neurodiversity report means for employees and employers - Jeanette Hunter

What the government's new neurodiversity report means for employees and employers

The government’s Expert Academic Panel on Neurodiversity published its final report and recommendations on 2 October 2026. Led by Professor Amanda Kirby for the Department for Work and Pensions, it sets out how employers and government can improve employment outcomes for neurodivergent people.

One of its most significant recommendations is that workplace support should be based on individual need rather than diagnosis. The panel found that diagnosis is a poor basis on which to determine access to support, and that neurodivergent people can thrive at work when given tailored, practical help.

That finding matters. Because two people with the same diagnosis can have very different strengths, very different challenges, and very different things that actually help them. What works is not a generic response to a label. It is a genuine understanding of how a specific person works.

What the report recommends

The panel’s recommendations include moving away from rigid, diagnosis-led approaches and towards support based on the actual barriers someone is experiencing. It highlights that many effective workplace adjustments are low-cost or cost nothing at all, and that line management plays a significant role in whether neurodivergent employees thrive or struggle.

The report also recommends that adjustments are regularly reviewed rather than set once and forgotten, and that workplaces become more psychologically safe, so that neurodivergent employees can discuss barriers and support without fearing that disclosure will damage their career.

Where executive function fits in

Executive functions are the brain-based skills involved in managing yourself at work. Starting tasks, planning and prioritising, managing time, staying focused, adapting to change, and regulating emotions under pressure. For many neurodivergent employees, one or more of these presents a genuine and consistent challenge, and the right workplace adjustment often depends on understanding which one.

Here are some examples of what that can look like in practice.

Someone who finds it difficult to adapt when plans shift unexpectedly is not being difficult or resistant. Cognitive flexibility is an executive function skill, and when it is a genuine challenge, unexpected change can be destabilising in a way that is hard to explain. A simple adjustment is involving that person in changes early, or giving them an earlier heads-up than colleagues might need. This costs nothing and can make a significant difference.

Cognitive flexibility:

being given advance notice of change

For some people, open-plan environments, frequent interruptions, or constant context-switching make it very difficult to do sustained work. Scheduling regular protected focus time, or allowing someone to work in a quieter space for part of the day, directly addresses the executive function challenge rather than expecting the person to manage it alone.

Sustained attention:

protected focus time

Lengthy periods on the phone can be genuinely exhausting for people with auditory processing difficulties, which often co-occur with neurodivergent conditions. This is not about confidence or communication ability. It is about the significant cognitive effort involved in processing spoken language in real time without the support of written text. Adjusting the balance of phone-based tasks, or allowing follow-up emails to confirm what was discussed, can reduce that load considerably.

Auditory processing:

flexibility around phone-based work

An administrator who writes a regular newsletter and struggles with task initiation may know exactly what the newsletter needs to contain and still find it very difficult to begin. A practical adjustment is breaking the task down into its smallest possible steps and placing those steps somewhere immediately accessible. Not just "write the newsletter" but: open the document, copy last month's layout, add the first heading. Starting from the very first physical action removes the activation barrier and makes starting possible.

If breaking tasks down does not quite do it on its own, there are other things worth trying. Anchoring the task to something that already happens reliably, such as doing it immediately after a specific meeting or at a set point in the day, can help. Pairing it with something enjoyable, a particular playlist, a coffee, a comfortable environment, can also reduce the resistance to starting. What works varies from person to person, and finding the right combination is something coaching can work through directly.

Task initiation:

breaking tasks into their smallest steps

Someone who struggles with prioritisation may feel genuinely stuck when they have many competing tasks and no clear sense of what to do first. That feeling can lead to hyperfocusing on the task that feels most interesting, which brings temporary relief but often ends with the anxiety of knowing other things have not moved forward. Over time, negative comments from colleagues or managers about unfinished work compound the difficulty.

There is no single prioritisation system that works for everyone. What coaching can do is work through different approaches with the person to find what actually suits how they think, rather than applying a generic method and hoping it sticks.

Planning and prioritisation:

finding what actually works for this person

What this means if you are a neurodivergent employee

If any of these examples resonate, understanding your own executive function profile is a useful starting point. It is not about having a label that unlocks support. It is about being able to articulate what is actually getting in the way, which makes it much easier to identify adjustments that would genuinely help, whether you discuss those with your employer, access them through Access to Work, or work on strategies independently.

Individual executive function coaching can support that process. Sessions explore your specific profile across all eleven executive function skills, build practical strategies suited to your working life, and develop the self-knowledge to continue that work independently beyond coaching.

What this means if you are an employer or HR team

The report is clear that many effective adjustments are low-cost and practical. What they require is understanding, of the individual, of the specific barriers they are experiencing, and of what might genuinely help.

Executive function coaching for employees is one way to develop that understanding in a structured, supported way. A coaching block can help an employee identify their own challenges clearly, build strategies that work in their specific role, and feel more confident discussing adjustments with their manager or HR team.

If you are thinking about how to support neurodivergent employees more effectively, a conversation is a good place to start.