TIME FOR CHANGE UPDATE

You may recall that in July last year, we reported on the Flexible Working Bill which will make changes to the current flexible working regime which has been in place since June 2014. Read it here. At that time, the Bill did not actually introduce a ‘day one’ right to request flexible working (although it was widely reported as doing so).  However, it was suggested that a ‘day one’ right would be introduced using secondary legislation.
 
Since then, in December 2023, The Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023 were laid before Parliament; they will have the effect of making the right to request flexible working a day one right, therefore removing the requirement for an employee to have 26 weeks’ service in order to make a flexible working request.
 
The ‘day one’ right will come into effect on 6 April 2024 via the Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (SI 2023/1328) and it is very likely that the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 will also come into force at the same time.
 
If you would like any assistance with flexible working requests and preparing for the imminent changes ahead, please get in touch.