There is a new government bill which should help remove employee barriers to flexible working. Read on to find out more about this Flexible Working Bill…
What is Flexible Working?
Flexible working arrangements include, but are not limited to:
- Changing from full time to part time hours
- Working compressed hours, where you work the same hours you are currently working, but in a smaller number of days
- Changing the hours you work, e.g, changing from night shifts to day shifts or vice versa
- Shift working
- Flexitime… this is where you normally have core hours where you must be at work with the remainder of your working day being under “flexitime”. In this flexi time, you can choose when you want to work to meet your remaining quota of working hours
- Working from home, for either all of your working days or just some of them
The Current Legislation
- Employees must wait 26 weeks after starting a new job to make a flexible working request
- Employees can make a maximum of one request for flexible working every 12 months
- Employers have 3 months to respond to any requests
- There is no right to appeal if an employee sees their request denied
The Flexible Working Bill
Labour MP, Yasmin Qureshi, introduced the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill in the House of Commons on 15th June 2022.
There is currently no timescale for this legislation, but it has had its second reading in the House of Commons on 28th October.
The legislation would:
- Remove the current requirement for employees to explain in flexible working applications what effect they think it will have on the employer
- Allow employees to make a request twice every 12 months (double what they can now)
- Require employers to consult with the employee in question before refusing the application
- Reduce the deadline for employer responses from 3 months to 2 months
The Positives
The bill would help remove barriers for a lot of employees who are unable to work traditional working patterns.
“Parents of young children, single parents or individuals with disabilities and health conditions so often need flexible working, but access to these arrangements is not equal for all. Improving access would help older people stay in work longer and help parents and carers return to and stay in work.” –Qureshi
An additional effect this bill could have is an increase in people’s pensions as more people would be able to make contributions.
However…
Some have taken a more cynical view of the Flexible Working Bill. Molly Johnson-Jones, founder and CEO of Flexa Careers stated that the bill would be problematic in practice. She said it
“will leave workers with caring responsibilities or disabilities- who start new jobs in good faith that their flexible working needs will be accommodated- in hugely precarious positions if their requests end up being turned down.”
Like with many things in life, time will tell how effective this legislation will be at meeting its aims. At the very least, it seems to be a step in the right direction.