New Flexible Working Arrangements

New Flexible Working Arrangements

New Flexible Working Regulations

As of today (30th June 2014) new Flexible Working Regulations and Part 9 of the Children and Families Act 2014 will come into force. This will mean that the right to request flexible working will be extended to cover all employees after 26 weeks’ service, rather than only those with children under the age of 17 (or 18 if the child is disabled) and certain carers. The statutory procedure for dealing with requests will be replaced by a duty to deal with requests reasonably and a statutory ACAS code of practice which relates to that duty.
The Government is extending the right to request flexible working to all employees and removing the current statutory procedure for considering requests. Instead employers will have a duty to consider all requests in a reasonable manner; however, employers will continue to have the flexibility to refuse requests on business grounds. The Acas code of practice and good practice guidance on the new regulations are available here:

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