The Government has launched a consultation into making flexible working a day 1 right. At present, employees can only make a request for flexible working (hereafter also referred to as "FW") after 26 weeks.
Flexible Working Consultation
A consultation into making flexible working the default, a day 1 right, has been launched by the Government. The consultation will close at 11:45pm on 1 December 2021.
Currently, employees can only make a request for FW after 26 weeks service with their employer. If adopted, the Government's proposals would make this a day 1 right under which employers would be placed under an obligation to accommodate the request, unless they can show that that there was a legitimate business reason for not doing so.
The proposals also include the following:-
- Limiting the reasons that employers can use for refusing the request
- Placing employers under an obligation to look at alternative FW arrangements, should they not be able to accommodate the type of FW specifically requested by the applicant
- Employees will be able to make 1 FW request per annum
- The consultation will also look at whether the period an employer has to consider a request for FW should be reduced from 3 months
The Conservative Party had committed to making FW the default, a day 1 right, in their 2019 General Election manifesto. Further, the Labour Party recently committed itself to making FW the default, should it win the next General Election.
The Government anticipates that an additional 2.2 million workers will be able to request FW as a result of its proposals.
Carers Leave
As well as announcing the consultation on flexible working, the Government also announced that working carers will have a day 1 right to 1 week's unpaid carers leave. This can be used flexibly, with an employee entitled to take from as little as half a day at a time, or to take the whole week at once. The commitment to providing 1 week's unpaid leave for carers was also part of the Conservative Party manifesto. The announcement that legislation will be introduced to enact the proposal followed a consultation on the issue, which closed on the 3rd August 2020. The delay in introducing legislation following the outcome of the consultation was caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
As we highlighted in a previous article, 24% of working carers have at one time or another actively considered giving up their jobs due to a lack of support. The charity, Carers UK, has been campaigning for greater flexibility at work and paid leave for carers. Nevertheless, whilst the new right to 1 week's leave for working carers will be unpaid, as opposed to paid, Carers UK described the announcement as "an important step forward."
On behalf of Carers UK, its Chief Executive, Helen Walker, stated: "Giving employees with caring responsibilities a legal right to unpaid carer’s leave and the ability to request flexible working from day one of starting their job is an important step forward for UK workers and could make a difference to millions – enabling carers to support their relatives whilst staying in work, maintaining social connections and improving their financial stability."
Reaction To The Flexible Working & Carers Leave Announcements
The chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), Peter Cheese, welcomed the announcement. He states: "We welcome the Government’s consultation on giving employees the right to request flexible working from day one of employment, something the CIPD has been actively campaigning for on behalf of millions of employees this year."
Cheese adds: "Flexible working isn’t just about working from home, it also covers arrangements such as part-time, flexi-time, compressed hours or job shares for example. An enhanced right to request flexible working from day one could help boost both the provision and uptake of a broader range of flexible working arrangements."
Nevertheless, the general secretary of the TUC, Frances O’Grady, was more critical. She said: "Flexible working should be a day one right that’s available to everyone. But under these plans employers will still have free rein to turn down all or any requests for flexible working. Instead of tinkering around the edges, ministers should change the law so that workers have the legal right to work flexibly from the first day in the job. The right to ask nicely is no right at all."
