Health questions before a job offer, and AI hiring tools, in Great Britain

Application forms, recruitment chatbots and automated screening tools often ask candidates a set list of questions before anyone at the employer looks at the answers. In Great Britain, section 60 of the Equality Act 2010 limits when an employer may ask about an applicant's health, and that limit applies whatever form the question takes. This page explains the rule and its exceptions.

The short answer: a person to whom an application for work is made must not ask about the applicant's health before offering work, or before putting the applicant in a pool from which they intend to choose who gets an offer, unless the question is necessary for one of the listed purposes (s60(1) and (6)). Whether a person has a disability counts as an aspect of their health (s60(13)).

What the rule covers

• Who: "A", the person to whom an application for work is made. "Work" is defined widely and includes employment, contract work, partnership and LLP positions, personal or public office, and the provision of an employment service (s60(9)).
• When: before offering work, or, where A is not yet in a position to offer work, before including the applicant in a pool from which A intends to select a person to offer work to (s60(1)).
• What counts as an offer: an offer may be conditional or unconditional (s60(10)). So an employer can make an offer conditional on health questions or checks that come after it.

The section is about asking, and its exceptions do not include questions asked through an online form, a chatbot script or a video interview platform. So the questions a hiring tool asks before the offer stage are worth reviewing against section 60.

The exceptions

The rule does not apply to a question in so far as asking it is necessary for the purpose of (s60(6)):

• establishing whether the applicant will be able to comply with a requirement to undergo an assessment, or whether a duty to make reasonable adjustments arises in connection with that assessment. An assessment means an interview or other process designed to give an indication of a person's suitability for the work (s60(12));
• establishing whether the applicant will be able to carry out a function that is intrinsic to the work. Where A reasonably believes a duty to make reasonable adjustments would arise, this means a function that would be intrinsic to the work once A had made those adjustments (s60(7));
• monitoring diversity in the range of people applying for work;
• taking positive action of the kind section 158 allows, applied to disabled people;
• where the work has a requirement to have a particular disability, establishing whether the applicant has it. A must show the requirement is an occupational requirement and a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim (s60(8)).

The section also does not apply to anything done to vet applicants for reasons of national security (s60(14)).

For an automated process, a common way to work within the first exception is to ask only whether the applicant needs any adjustments for the assessment itself, such as extra time on an online test or an alternative to a timed video interview, rather than a general health question.

Who enforces it

Asking a question in breach of section 60(1) is enforceable as an unlawful act under Part 1 of the Equality Act 2006, and only by the Commission under that Part (s60(2)). Section 120(8) confirms that an employment tribunal's jurisdiction over Part 5 complaints does not cover section 60(1) (s120(8)). So an applicant cannot bring a tribunal claim just because they were asked the question.

When the answers are used

Asking about health is not on its own disability discrimination, but what A does in reliance on the answers may be (s60(3)). If an applicant brings a tribunal complaint that A's conduct in reliance on information given in answer to a health question was direct disability discrimination in one of the listed provisions, such as rejecting the application, the particulars of the complaint are treated as facts from which the tribunal could decide that A contravened the provision (s60(4), (5) and (11)).

For a hiring tool this matters in two ways. If the tool collects health answers before the offer stage and those answers feed into a score, ranking or filter, section 60(5) can apply to a complaint about the outcome. And keeping such answers away from the people or systems that make the selection decision, except where an exception applies, reduces that risk.

Practical checklist for employers using AI in hiring

• List every question each tool asks before an offer, including chatbot follow-ups and video interview prompts.
• Remove general health or sickness-absence questions from the pre-offer stage, or tie each remaining one to a listed exception.
• Ask about adjustments for the assessment, not about conditions.
• Keep diversity monitoring answers separate from selection.
• Make any health questions or checks part of a conditional offer instead.

For candidates

If a form or chatbot asks about your health before any offer, the question may not be allowed unless it relates to one of the exceptions above. You can still ask for adjustments to the process. If you think a decision was made because of answers you gave, section 60(5) can help a tribunal claim. Our pages on AI in hiring, AI and disabled workers and the Equality Act and AI at work cover the wider rules.

This page covers Great Britain and is general information on the law as at 2 November 2026, not legal advice.