Toilet Rights at Work — What UK Employers Must Provide

In September 2020 an Employment Tribunal awarded £9,692.05 to a Barclays employee with Crohn's disease who was not given sufficient toilet access, finding the bank had failed to make reasonable adjustments. The case, Kane v Barclays Bank UK plc (ET 1403210/2019), is the clearest verified UK decision on workplace toilet access.

Toilet access at work is not a matter of employer goodwill. It is governed by health and safety law, and where a health condition is involved, by disability law as well.

The Core Legal Requirement

Regulation 20 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 requires employers in England, Scotland and Wales to provide "suitable and sufficient" sanitary conveniences in readily accessible places.

They must be adequately ventilated and lit, kept clean and orderly, and normally separate for men and women unless each is in a separate lockable room. Northern Ireland has parallel workplace welfare legislation rather than these regulations.

HSE guidance sets out what "suitable and sufficient" means in practice:

enough toilets and washbasins that people are not queuing for long periods
toilet paper, and provision for sanitary disposal
hot and cold, or warm, running water
soap and a means of drying hands

Can an Employer Restrict When You Go?

Employers may manage work and address genuine abuse. But a rule making toilets unavailable except during scheduled breaks is difficult to reconcile with facilities being "readily accessible", and an outright refusal of necessary access is not made lawful simply because a formal break is not due.

A distinction worth understanding: toilet visits are not the same as statutory rest breaks. The Working Time Regulations normally give an adult worker one uninterrupted 20-minute rest break when working more than six hours. There is no automatic statutory entitlement to additional general rest breaks — but necessary toilet access is a separate welfare issue, and where a disability is involved, a separate legal question again.

If You Have IBS, Crohn's, Colitis or a Stoma

Where a condition meets the disability definition — a physical or mental impairment with a substantial and long-term adverse effect on normal day-to-day activities — and the employer knows or reasonably ought to know about it, the duty to make reasonable adjustments applies.

Adjustments that tribunals and guidance recognise include:

unlimited or additional toilet breaks
a workstation close to a toilet
rapid key access where facilities are locked
flexible hours, particularly around symptom patterns
suitable stoma disposal facilities

Note that these conditions are not automatically disabilities by diagnosis alone. Crohn's & Colitis UK confirms this. What matters is the effect on you.

Discipline and Absence

Treating someone unfavourably because they need regular disability-related toilet breaks can be discrimination arising from disability, unless the employer can objectively justify it. ACAS expressly identifies regular rest or toilet breaks as something that can arise from a disability.

That means counting disability-related toilet breaks towards a disciplinary threshold, or recording them as lateness or lost time without adjustment, carries real legal risk for the employer.

Visiting Workers and Drivers

This is widely misunderstood by sites that receive deliveries. Workers visiting a site must have safe and easy access to toilet and handwashing facilities. HSE states plainly that refusing access is against the law.

Delivery drivers, engineers and contractors are covered. A site cannot treat its facilities as staff-only for people who are working there.

Disabled Employees and Facility Design

"Suitable" in Regulation 20 includes suitability for disabled people. HSE guidance says doors, passages, showers, washbasins, lavatories and workstations should be made accessible where necessary.

Where facilities are locked, holding the key centrally so an employee must ask each time is a poor arrangement for anyone with an urgent condition — and rapid or independent key access is a recognised adjustment precisely for that reason.

What to Do If Access Is Being Refused

Put the request in writing, framing it as a reasonable adjustment if a health condition is involved. This establishes employer knowledge, which matters legally.
Ask for occupational health input — it strengthens the record and often unlocks agreement.
Keep a dated log of refusals, and of any impact on your health or performance.
Raise a formal grievance if informal requests fail.
Get advice from ACAS before taking further steps. Employment Tribunal time limits are short — normally three months less one day.

Key Resources

HSE: hse.gov.uk — welfare at work guidance, including facilities for visiting workers
ACAS: acas.org.uk — free advice on adjustments, grievances and tribunal time limits
Crohn's & Colitis UK: crohnsandcolitis.org.uk — workplace guidance for IBD
Equality Advisory and Support Service: equalityadvisoryservice.com — free discrimination advice

Frequently Asked Questions

Can my employer stop me using the toilet outside of breaks?

Not as a blanket rule. Regulation 20 requires facilities to be readily accessible, which is hard to square with restricting access to scheduled breaks only. Employers can address genuine abuse, but refusing necessary access is not lawful merely because a formal break is not due.

Does my employer have to give me extra toilet breaks for Crohn's or IBS?

Where the condition meets the legal disability test and the employer knows about it, additional or unlimited breaks are a recognised reasonable adjustment. In Kane v Barclays the tribunal found insufficient toilet access for an employee with Crohn's was a failure to make adjustments, awarding £9,692.05.

Do delivery drivers have the right to use a site's toilets?

Yes. HSE states that workers visiting a site must have safe and easy access to toilet and handwashing facilities, and that refusing access is against the law. This covers drivers, engineers and contractors working at the premises.