For some time now, the Government has been threatening to widen access to the right to request flexible working arrangements.  To date, only parents and carers have enjoyed the statutory right to make such requests.  The Government delayed the introduction of more generous laws in this area because of the financial crisis.  It was felt that with the economy in the doldrums, this was not the time to tell employers that their employees had yet more rights to throw around.  But now that the recession is over and everything in the garden is rosy, the Flexible Working Regulations 2014 have been brought into force with effect from 30 June 2014. What are the new rights? These new regulations entitle all employees with 26 weeks’ continuous service to request flexible working; they no longer need to be parents or carers to do so.  Employees can request:

• changes to the number of hours that they work (e.g. going from full-time to part-time hours);
• changes to when they will work; and/or
• changes to where they work (e.g. a request to work from home some or all of the time).

Once an employee has made a valid flexible working request, the regulations set out the process that the employer must adopt when considering that request.  Ultimately, the employer is not obliged to agree to all the requests that it receives.  But any refusals must be properly justified by reference to at least one of eight prescribed business grounds on which such requests can validly be turned down. Getting it wrong Unsurprisingly, there are financial penalties for employers who fail to comply with the new laws.  Employment Tribunals can award employees up to 8 weeks' pay if their employer fails to follow the correct procedure when considering their flexible working request.  

However, employees cannot normally challenge the fairness of the decision itself, as long as the employer has relied on valid business grounds when rejecting the request. How will the new right be used? It will be interesting to see whether this change in the law results in a significant increase in the number of people making flexible working requests.  

Figures published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills suggest that 20 million people will now have the right to make such requests.  However, common sense suggests that the overwhelming majority of requests will still be made by new mums who want to return to work on a part-time basis. That said, there may now be other groups of workers who genuinely value the opportunity to strike a different work-life balance.  

What about older workers, for example, who want to move to part-time work as a ‘stepping-stone’ to full retirement?  Could we see more requests made by this particular section of the workforce?  Only time will tell. If you need further advice on how to deal with flexible working requests.