This week saw the much anticipated 'Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill' received Royal Assent.
When section 1 of the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 comes into force, sections 80F (right to request contract variation) and 80G (employer’s duties in relation to application) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 will be amended so that:
- When making a request, an employee will no longer have to explain what effect, if any, the employee thinks their requested change would have on the employer and how any such effect might be dealt with.
- The current limitation restricting an employee to one request in any 12-month period will be revised. An employee will be entitled to make two requests in any 12-month period. However, it will not be possible to make a further application while another application to the same employer is already proceeding.
- An employer will not be permitted to refuse a request unless the employee has been consulted.
- The time for an employer to make a decision will be reduced from three to two months (although it will remain open for the parties to agree a longer period).
- These amendments will apply in respect of an employee's entitlement to make a request, and any request that they make, once section 1 comes into force. In determining the number of requests an employee has made during a 12-month period, a request made before section 1 comes into force (and during that period) will be included.
Whilst announcing that the Bill had received Royal Assent, the government referred to the right to request flexible working becoming a "day one" right. While this is not an amendment made by the Act, the announcement reiterates previous government statements that the current requirement for an employee to have at least 26 weeks' continuous employment by the date of a request will be removed by secondary legislation. The government expects section 1 of the Act and secondary legislation to come into force in approximately a year's time, to give employers time to prepare.
WorkSmarter will update their suite of template documents regarding flexible working requests (in the Document Library) to reflect these changes, once the Act becomes law, most likely in 2024.
