Flexible Working Bill awaits Royal Assent

Editor's note

The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 received Royal Assent on 20 July 2023. The amendments to the Employment Rights Act 1996 will come into force once secondary legislation is published which will commence the provisions of that Act.

Scope

As the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill awaits Royal Assent following its third reading at the House of Lords on 14 July with no amendments, businesses are being warned to take steps now to accommodate flexible working within their teams.

The Bill was first proposed by MP Yasmin Qureshi and aims to give employees greater flexibility over where, when, and how they work.

Under the new plans, employees will be able to request changes to their working hours, times, or location from day one of employment. Managers will also have to provide proper reasoning for an employee before rejecting a request for flexible work.

What does the Bill do?

The Bill introduces some huge changes to present UK employment law. Currently under the Employment Rights Act 1996, an employee must have worked at a company for 26 weeks or longer before they are permitted to ask their manager for flexible working.

This can only be done once per year and the employee must be able to explain what effect this change will have on the employer, and how they will deal with this change.

The new legislation will:

• allow employees to make a flexible working requests from day one of employment;
• mean that employers must consult with their employees before a flexible working request can be turned down;
• allow employees to make two flexible working requests in any 12-month period;
• require employers to respond to requests within two months instead of three;
• remove the requirement for employees to lay out how the flexible working request might impact the employer.

How can employers prepare?

Employers could look to do the following to prepare for the Bill gaining Royal Assent:

• make a note of any potential consequences of the Bill that might be difficult to manage, and discuss with employees how these issues could be resolved;
• discuss with employees why their role is or is not suitable for flexible working, and what would need to be put into place to aid flexible working;
• look at introducing flexible working policies that align with the new amendments;
• when flexibility is not feasible, be as transparent with employees as possible about what flexibility can be offered.

For more information on this subject, see:

• Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill timeline.