News Story: Employment rights

On 20 July 2023, the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill received Royal Assent, becoming the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023. The Bill was introduced to Parliament in June 2022 as a Private Members' Bill and subsequently supported by the government (see FC Feature 28 October 2022). The Equality and Human Rights Commission has welcomed the Act (EHRC Press Release). The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has also launched Call for Evidence: Non-statutory flexible working which seeks views from individuals and businesses on their experiences of informal or ad hoc flexible working and how it operates in practice. The call for evidence closes on 7 November 2023.

Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023

The Act amends the flexible working provisions in Part 8A Employment Rights Act 1996 (ss 80F and G) to:

• introduce a requirement for employers to consult with the employee before rejecting their flexible working request;
• allow an employee to make two statutory requests in any 12-month period (rather than the single request currently permitted under s 80F(4) ERA 1996) although the second request cannot be made while the first is proceeding;
• reduce the deadline for an employer decision on flexible working requests from three months to two; and
• remove the requirement that the employee must explain in the statutory request what effect the change would have on the employer and how that might be dealt with.

These provisions will be brought into force by commencement regulations, which have not yet been published.

During the Bill's passage through Parliament, the government indicated that a right to request flexible working from the first day of employment would be implemented through secondary legislation when parliamentary time allows (see FC Feature 6 December 2022).

DBT call for evidence

The call for evidence follows the government's Response to an earlier consultation on proposed reforms to the rules on flexible working (see FC Feature 6 December 2022), which acknowledged the importance of non-statutory flexible working and the need to better understand how informal or ad hoc flexible working operates in practice.  Responses to the call for evidence will be used to inform the future direction of the government's flexible working strategy.

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