Reasonable adjustments

If you are in paid employment and have or have had cancer, your employer should consider making reasonable adjustments to support you.

Both the Equality Act and the Disability Discrimination Act say that your employer must make reasonable adjustments. Your employer must make reasonable adjustments when the workplace or work practices put you at a ‘substantial disadvantage’ because you have cancer. This is compared with colleagues who do not have cancer. The disadvantage has to be ‘more than minor or trivial’.

You do not have to tell your employer you have cancer. But they do not have to make a reasonable adjustment unless they know, or should reasonably know, that you have cancer. For example, if you are behaving differently because of cancer, but your employer does not know you have cancer, it is reasonable for your employer to check whether your behaviour is connected to a disability. They can then ask how they might be able to support you.

There is no fixed description of what a reasonable adjustment should be. It will depend on:

• how much the adjustment will help you
• how practical it is to make the adjustment
• the cost of making the adjustment
• how the adjustment will affect your employer
• the size of the company or organisation you work for, and the resources it has.

Your employer should talk with you about possible adjustments. You should be involved in every stage. It is best for both you and your employer to work together.

Our guide to reasonable adjustments is available to download. You could use the guide to help you talk to your employer about returning to work or staying in work.