Not medical or legal advice. Lived experience + public guidance only.
Ayup.
If you’re googling whether you can ask your employer for reasonable adjustments because you’ve got HS — hidradenitis — at work in the UK, you’re probably not after a TED Talk. You’re after something practical before another shift turns into a staff-toilet disaster movie.
I’ve done the staff-toilet dance more times than I care to admit — shirt off, dressing change, smile back on before anyone clocks you. Cruise ships, casino floors, classrooms abroad, Yorkshire dad life: different uniforms, same old leaky bastard of a condition. HS doesn’t care what job title’s on your badge.
This is me, Gaz — Yorkshire bloke, dad, Stage 3 HS, Humira era, the lot — writing as someone who’s had to keep earning and showing up over the years while his body’s being a sodding nuisance. Not your employment lawyer. Not your dermatologist. Just a mate who’s sat on that paperwork side of HS — ships, casino floors, classrooms abroad — and still talks to people stuck in it now. These days I run Living Life With HS full-time unpaid (CIC), so when I talk about “at work” I’m pulling from past jobs and composites, not a current boss.
If you’re still wrapping your head around the condition itself, start with our plain What is HS? page. The NHS overview of hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) describes it as a long-term skin condition that can get in the way of everyday life — work included. That does not automatically mean every person with HS is treated as disabled under the Equality Act. Disability status is fact-specific. And no — NHS guidance is clear HS is not caused by poor hygiene and it’s not infectious, whatever the break-room mythology says.
Can I ask for reasonable adjustments if I have HS at work?
Short answer: often yes, you can ask. Whether something counts as “reasonable” depends on the situation. There is no magic checklist that guarantees an outcome.
In Great Britain, employers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled workers and job applicants so they aren’t substantially disadvantaged. That’s the public line from GOV.UK on reasonable adjustments and Acas guidance. Again: not legal advice — if it’s high stakes, get proper advice.
Official examples of adjustments (from those same public sources) can include things like changing duties, altering hours, providing equipment, or changing how something is done. What is “reasonable” depends on the situation — size of employer, cost, practicality, how effective it would be. Reasonable adjustments aren’t a medal for being poorly. They’re the boring tools that stop a flare turning into a P45.
I’ve had weeks where sitting still felt like a personal insult from the universe — friction, heat, dressings, the lot. On a ship or a casino floor you can’t always just “work from home.” Sometimes the ask is smaller: a different break pattern, a uniform tweak, somewhere private to change a dressing without making it a spectator sport. Sometimes it’s bigger. The point is you name the barrier, then you ask.
Do I have to tell my employer I’ve got HS?
No general duty to disclose. Acas guidance is that workers don’t have to tell an employer about a disability — but if you do disclose (or they could reasonably be expected to know), that can trigger support duties around adjustments.
Timing is personal. Some of us wait until flares make “pushing through” sodding impossible. I’ve sat on both sides of that coin: covering with banter so you don’t have to explain a leak, and the day you decide quiet suffering isn’t impressing anyone’s payroll. That’s a human call, not a morality test.
If you disclose, keep it practical. What gets in the way at work. What might reduce the disadvantage. What you’re asking them to consider. You don’t owe the whole memoir in the first meeting — though if you want the long version of how I got here, that’s what the book and this site are for.
What about Access to Work?
Access to Work is a government scheme that can help with extra costs of working if you have a disability or health condition. Eligibility is set out on the live GOV.UK page — check it for your situation rather than trusting a blog post’s memory.
Important lock from official guidance: Access to Work is not a way of paying for the reasonable adjustments your employer already has a duty to make. Employers still carry that duty. AtW can sit alongside workplace support; it doesn’t replace it.
I wish someone had said that to me in plain English years ago. People mash the two ideas together and then get disappointed when a scheme doesn’t magically buy the thing the employer should already be looking at.
If money, PIP, or the benefits maze is chewing your brain as well as work, our Benefits hub is the on-site springboard — still not legal advice, just patient-led signposting from people who’ve been in the NHS hellscape too.
How I’d actually open the conversation
I’ve lived with HS long enough to know a “bad” day isn’t laziness. Dressings, pain, smell anxiety, time off for derm or flares — it can wreck a “normal” shift without you being a chuffing drama queen.
When I’ve raised work stuff in the past (and when I coach people through it now), what’s helped is keeping it concrete:
1. Name the work barrier (sitting, walking, uniform friction, heat, time for dressings — whatever your HS does). 2. Ask about reasonable adjustments — employer duty under public guidance; reasonableness depends on the situation. 3. Check Access to Work on GOV.UK for extra support options — remembering it doesn’t pay for the employer’s RA duty. 4. Keep records of what you asked and what they said. 5. If it’s getting legal or disciplinary, get advice (union, Acas, solicitor) — don’t rely on a blog.
Point them at NHS HS pages if they think it’s contagious nonsense. Point yourself at GOV.UK / Acas if you need the official wording in black and white.
You’re allowed to ask for help without apologising for existing. I’m a Yorkshire dad with HS who’s had to keep showing up for kids — and, in years past, for shifts — while this condition does its worst. Soft bit, then: the people who love you don’t need you to be a martyr on the shop floor.
Where to go next
Start with What is HS? if you need the basics, then our Benefits hub if money and paperwork are chewing your brain alongside work.
Peer support and the rest of Living Life With HS are there if you need humans who get it.
We’re not doctors and we’re not your employment lawyer. We’re patients building this site so fewer people get brushed off.
Get stuck in. Ask. Quiet suffering doesn’t impress anyone’s payroll.