New rights around flexible working requests

What are the new rights around flexible working?

Previously, an employee would need to have worked for 26 consecutive weeks to approach their employer with a formal flexible working request.

The new legislation means that all employees have the legal right, from day one, to request flexible working – this could mean changing the number of hours they work, when they start or finish work, the days they work or where they work.

To clarify, an employee does not have the right to flexible working, but the right to request it.

They also have the right to make two flexible working requests a year – before the 6th of April 2024, they could only make one request.

There are a few different ways in which an employee can work flexibly – these include:

• Remote working/working from home – this counts as anywhere, whether at home or in a coffee shop etc., that isn’t the employee’s normal workplace.
• Hybrid working – a combination of remote working and a usual place of work.
• Flexitime – this is when an employee chooses their own start and end time (within agreed limits). As an example, this could be from 8am to 3pm or 10am to 4pm.
• Compressed hours – in this case, an employee will work their full-time hours, but over fewer days. This could mean having a day off every other week by working longer hours on the days leading up to it.
• Annualised hours – there will often be ‘core hours’ that an employee works regularly each week and then they work the rest of their hours flexibly or when there’s extra demand.
• Staggered hours – this is where an employee has a different start and end time, as well as breaks, from other staff.
• Job sharing – two people can do the one job by splitting the hours.
• Part-time – this means working less than full-time hours, usually by working fewer days.
• Phased retirement – when approaching retirement, an employee can start to reduce their hours.

How do employees apply for flexible working?

If an employee wants to make a request, they’ll need to email or write a letter to their employer with the following information:

• the date of the request
• a clear statement that the email/letter is for flexible working
• the specifics – how they want to work flexibly and when they want to start doing so
• whether or not they’ve made a previous request, with the date of said request

The employer then has two months (or longer, if agreed with the employee) to come back to the worker with a decision.

If the employer is happy to go ahead with the changes, then this will need to be written into the worker’s contract with all terms and conditions included, as well as an agreed start date.

Can an employer deny a request for flexible working?

Yes, an employer can deny a request, however, they must discuss this with the employee beforehand and give a good reason as to why it isn’t possible.

Every employer must deal with each request in a ‘reasonable manner’; considering the advantages and disadvantages of the application, discussing possible alternatives should the worker’s request not quite work for the business, and lastly, they must offer an appeal process should the request not be approved.

There could be a number of legitimate reasons as to why an employer can’t let a worker adopt flexible working.

For example:

• it could result in extra costs for the business
• it could leave the business unable to meet customer demand
• a change in a worker’s hours/days could mean that quality and performance are affected
• there isn’t enough work to be completed during the hours or days that the employee wants to work

If an employee wants to appeal against a decision, they’ll need to follow the company’s procedure.

They can’t complain to an employment tribunal simply because their request was refused. They can, however, put in a complaint if their employer didn’t use a ‘reasonable manner’ in their decision-making, either dismissed or treated them unfairly because of the request or refused it based on incorrect facts.

This complaint needs to be made within three months of either their employer’s decision or the date the employer should have responded by if they failed to do so.

We hope you found this page helpful. Our team of experts are available to answer any questions you may have, so either contact us via online chat, call us on 01442 795 100 or email sophie.lewis@dolanaccountancy.com.