As of 6 April 2024 all employees, regardless of their length of service, have the right to request flexible working. The Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023, which were published last December, make it clear that flexible working, for applications made on or after 6 April 2024, is a Day 1 right for all employees.
The Government also published wider changes to flexible working last autumn. These are set out in the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 and are now in force.
The wider changes are as follows:
- There is no longer a requirement for employees, in their written request, to set out what effect the proposed flexibility would have on the employer’s business and how any effect could be dealt with.
- The number of flexible working requests which can be made in any 12-month period has increased from one to two.
- The primary time period within which flexible working requests must be dealt with (including any appeal) has reduced from three months to two months. As before, it will remain possible, by agreement with the employee, to extend this time period.
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