At the moment, no changes have been made to the flexible working legislation. The government has just launched a consultation, which is open until 1 December 2021.
This means that any changes are still some time away, so there is time for your client to assess their current processes and get prepared.
The proposals in the consultation are as follows:
- Making the right to request flexible working a day-1 right by removing the current 26-week qualifying service
- Assessing whether the eight reasons on which employers can currently refuse a request are still valid
- Requiring employers to suggest alternative options when refusing a request. This is to make flexible working options more accessible, and encourages employers to carefully consider what they can offer
- Assessing the process for flexible working request. Specifically, this includes consideration of removing the ‘one request per year’ limit and whether changes should be made to the current 3-month response time that employers have to process requests
- Assessing requests for temporary flex-working arrangements and informal requests
Even if all of the above are introduced, the underlying process will still remain largely the same. If you client doesn’t already have processes in place for setting up home working arrangements for new starters, they might want to think about doing this now, as this is likely to be part of any requests that are made. They might also want to consider what flexible working arrangements might be possible in their business – such as job sharing and part time hours, and what measures would need to be in place for these to be effective for their work.
Your client is hopefully already dealing with requests without unreasonable delays, so changes to the three-month response time should not be a significant issue. The option to refuse requests will remain too, so this should reassure your client that realistically, this change is not going to significantly impact their business.
For now, the best thing is to help your client stay up to date with government announcements and be prepared for making changes. There is no need to be unduly worried about these changes, as they should just act as another means of communication between your client and their employees, about their employees wants and needs from their work.
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