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Employer’s Guide to Cancer and Employment Law in the UK
(Updated on 2nd December 2025)
Understanding cancer and working guidelines for employers is a vital step in running your business. Under the Equality Act 2010, an employee with cancer has a disability. This means your business must not treat staff members less favourably and you must be receptive to reasonable workplace adjustments.
With help from our experienced employment law services team, now is the time to review protocols and ensure your employees receive the proper care and attention they need when dealing with cancer, whether that be pre-diagnosis, during treatment, or post-recovery.
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Compliance and compassion: Cancer and working guidelines for employers
As cancer is deemed a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010, applied from the point an employee has their diagnosis through to after treatment is complete. Crucially, this means your business must avoid direct discrimination, for example treating an employee poorly due to their illness.
You must also consider discrimination arising from disability, which is also not allowed under cancer and employment law in the UK laws. For example, if an employer were to dismiss an employee due to increases in absences as a result of their illness, this would break UK employment laws.
Another requirement under the Equality Act 2010 is your legal duty for reasonable working environment adjustments. The affected employee may request flexible working hours, working from home, or a reduction in hours. As the employer, you must consider these requests and provide adjustments where possible.
Keep in mind, the definition of a “reasonable adjustment” considers factors such as your business size, resources available, and any costs.
Healthcare benefits and support services
You may also look to support your staff’s wider healthcare benefits and initiatives packages. On the most basic level, this could entail:
- A more comprehensive medical insurance scheme
- Coverage included for cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy
This allows for the practical benefit of employees receiving the treatment they need and enables a quicker and more effective recovery phase. The same can be said for a number of non-traditional healthcare benefits, such as specialist support services that deal with rehabilitation for recovering cancer patients.
Alongside those approaches, you may also invest in educational materials to raise awareness of cancer risk among your workforce. These aren’t mandatory under employment law and cancer regulations, but they can help to cultivate a wellbeing culture in the workplace with healthy lifestyle and working practices.
Cancer at work recovery stage provisions
Managing an employee’s return to work following a battle with cancer must be handled with extreme care and attention:
- A smooth transition from patient to employee may come down to the physical office space itself. For instance, those using crutches or mobility vehicles may require lifts or ramps to safely navigate the building. And those experiencing extreme fatigue may require special parking arrangements. These are best determined through a workplace risk assessment.
- In other cases, the requirement will be a compassionate, understanding, and patient approach. This might come down to allowing flexible working patterns for those experiencing bouts of fatigue or increased remote working.
Management is key to ascertain what these unique needs are, so open conversations should take place between the affected employee and their line manager.
You can then equip your line managers with the tools to carry out vital and sensitive conversations in a constructive, emotionally intelligent manner.
Support your staff with specialist occupational health insights
From understanding your legal responsibilities to managing long-term absences, with expert occupational health support you can support your staff. Our specialist team is on hand with the strategies and training you need to manage risks and work-related illnesses. Contact us today for a free, no-obligation consultation.
