Working Patterns
Flexible working – Saturday 6 April 2024
The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 will introduce changes to the statutory flexible working procedure. The key changes the Act will implement are:
- The removal of the need for the employee to have 26 weeks’ service to make a request, making the right a day one right.
- A new requirement for employers to consult with the requestee before the request is rejected.
- The removal of the obligation for employees to explain the effects that their request may have on their employer and potential ways of dealing with these.
Further changes to flexible working requests are also expected in 2024, which are anticipated to also come into force on Saturday 6 April 2024, but require further regulations to confirm this. These include:
- Doubling the number of requests an employee can make from 1 to 2 in a 12-month period.
- The requirement for employers to provide a response to the request within two months (down from three months).
It’s important to ensure that you’re compliant with these changes when they come into force. Make sure you review any internal processes and policies you currently have for handling flexible working requests. When updating your procedure, it may be helpful to consult Acas’ Code of Practice on handling flexible working requests.
Predictable Terms and Conditions – uncertain timeframe
The Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act will provide workers and agency workers with a new right to request a more predictable working pattern twice in a 12-month period.
Further regulations are required before it’s certain how this right will work in practice. However, it’s anticipated that this will work like flexible working requests and will only apply to workers with at least 26 weeks’ service. Employers will be able to refuse the request on statutory grounds.
It will be an automatically unfair dismissal if a worker is dismissed for making a request or for bringing proceedings against their employer to enforce it.
This will have the greatest impact on zero-hours contract workers and other atypical workers. It’s important for you to remember that this new right only provides workers with the right to request more predictable terms, not an automatic change.