Dealing with flexible working requests
Now that it has been some months since 6 April 2024, when the new rules on flexible working requests came into force in Great Britain, here are some practical tips on how to deal with them effectively.
What is a flexible working request?
An employee has the right to make a flexible working request to ask for changes to the hours they are required to work, the times they are required to work, or where they work.
When can an employee make a request?
All employees can now make a flexible working request from day one of their employment.
How many requests can an employee make?
Employees can now make two requests in a 12-month period, rather than just the one.
When an employee makes a request, their application must:
- be in writing
- state that it is a statutory flexible working request
- be signed and dated
- give the date the changes would start from
- state their preferred pattern of work
- confirm if and when they have made a previous request for flexible working.
Does an employee need to set out the impact of the proposed arrangement?
When making a flexible working request an employee no longer has to explain what they believe to be the impact of the change and how any challenges may be overcome.
Employers canât, therefore, require the individual to provide this information. However, the law and the Code of Practice donât say that an employer canât ask. It may be helpful to the manager considering the request to have this understanding directly from the employee â the one who actually performs the role â but this needs to be approached with care. It needs to be clear to the employee that consideration of the request is not dependent on them providing this information.
How does an employer consult with the employee about their request?
Once the flexible working request has been submitted, unless it can be agreed to without further discussion, a meeting should be arranged with the employee to talk it through in more detail. This provides an opportunity to discuss the potential benefits or other impacts of accepting or rejecting the request, for example, the effect on salary and entitlements. Itâs also a chance to discuss whether there are any alternatives to the original request that the employee may consider acceptable and whether a trial period would help to assess the feasibility of a new arrangement.
What happens if there are conflicting requests?
If an employer receives conflicting requests and itâs only possible to agree to one of them, then the statutory Code of Practice states that multiple requests should be handled fairly by considering each request in the order they are received, and the same procedure should be followed for each. Requests shouldnât be prioritised based on personal circumstances, unless an employee is requesting a reasonable adjustment that is related to their disability.
When can a request be refused?
The eight statutory reasons for refusing a flexible working request remain unchanged. This means that a request can only be turned down if the circumstances fall within one of the following:
- the burden of additional costs
- detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand
- inability to reorganise work among existing staff
- inability to recruit additional staff
- detrimental impact on quality
- detrimental impact on performance
- insufficiency of work during the periods that the employee proposes to work
- planned structural changes
Should one or more of these reasons apply the request can be refused, but only after the employee has been consulted.
The whole flexible working process â including any appeal â should be dealt with in two months, unless the parties agree to an extension. It is important, therefore, for requests to be dealt with promptly to make sure that the correct procedure is followed within that timeframe.
