The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill received Royal Assent on 20 July. The Employment Rights Act 1996 will be amended so that:
- An employee will no longer have to explain what effect, if any, they think their requested change will have and how this should be dealt with.
- An employee will be entitled to make two requests in any 12-month period.
- An employer won’t be permitted to refuse a request unless the employee has been consulted with.
- The time for an employer to come to a decision on a request will be reduced from three to two months.
The legislation look’s likely to come into force in approximately a year’s time, to give employers time to prepare.
The government has reiterated that the right to request flexible working will become a “day one” right at some stage, although this is not an amendment made by the Act and will require secondary legislation to remove the current 26 weeks’ continuous employment qualifying requirement.