Changes to the right to request flexible working – potential impact on HR
News item added 24th June 2008
Flexible working arrangements are currently used by an estimated 14 million employees in the UK and 45% of this figure is thought to be men - however, only 6 million employees have the right to request flexible working from their employer. Currently the right to request flexible working belongs only to parents with children under six years old, or parents of disabled children under the age of 18 and those with adult-carer responsibilities. Yet, this is set to change.
In November last year, Sainsbury’s HR Director, Imelda Walsh was asked to lead an independent review into extending the right to request flexible working to parents of older children. Her review was published on 15th May this year and sets out the case for making significant changes to existing legislation.
The government has accepted Imelda Walsh's recommendations to extend the right to request flexible working to parents with children under the age of 16. In the report, the arguments for and against making other certain changes to flexible working legislation are also discussed. Currently there is a 26 week qualifying period for a request to be eligible and it can be argued that if this were to be abolished, then it would encourage many more employees to come back into the workplace – especially new parents who need some form of flexibility right from the start. Also, there is a case for extending the right to request flexible working to all employees, since many employers already offer this and go beyond what the current legislation requires – so why not make this statutory for all?
The report also suggests that the extension of the right to request flexible working to parents of older children should be implemented at once and not be staged over a period of time. The government is currently consulting on the proposals and it is expected that the final legislation will come into force in April 2009 – this could have many consequences for all types of employers and is likely to create a large rise in the amount of requests for HR.
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JSB's 1-day course Family-friendly Rights and the Law is taking place on 16 September 2008 and will cover all the issues highlighted above. See full details.