Government publishes its response to consultation on flexible working

Covid-19 brought about many changes to working practices and this has been recognised by the Government which has recently published its response on the role of flexible working in today’s workplace.

Their suggestions for change include:

• The right to request flexible working to become a day one right (it is currently only available to employees with 26 weeks of service). The government emphasises that this remains a right to request, not a right to have flexible working, stating that there is ‘no one size fits all approach to work arrangements’.
• Employees will be allowed to make two requests (previously one request) within a 12 month period, and the response time for employers will reduce to two months (previously three months).
• Employers must consult with employees to look at alternative options before declining a flexible working request.
• The procedure for requesting flexible working will be simplified by removing the requirement for employees to set out how the effects of their flexible working request might impact the employer and to include suggestions as to how it might be dealt with. This is recognised as an unnecessary burden on employees which would be particularly hard for employees to comply with when making a request from day one of their employment when they wouldn’t be familiar with the employer or working practices.
• There will be no change to the list of eight reasons the employer has to refuse a request for flexible working.

There isn’t a timescale on when and exactly what will be introduced however we shall continue to keep you updated.