6. Flexible working
[ch 6: page 45]The Children and Families Act 2014 extended the right to request to work flexibly to all employees, regardless of their caring responsibilities, from 30 June 2014. The earlier statutory procedure to “consider requests for flexible working” has been replaced with a broad duty to “deal with the application in a reasonable manner”.
This is to enable other groups of employees to access the right to work flexibly, for example, older workers approaching retirement or younger workers who want to combine their work with further education and training.
The TUC has welcomed the new right as a development that could help make it easier for all employees to better balance their work and home lives, but is concerned that it is still too easy for employers to say no to any requests they receive.
Acas has welcomed the extension of the right to request to work flexibly and has issued a new Code of Practice for employers considering applications to work flexibly, as well as general guidance: Handling requests to work flexibly in a reasonable manner (www.acas.org.uk/media/pdf/f/e/Code-of-Practice-on-handling-in-a-reasonable-manner-requests-to-work-flexibly.pdf).
Therefore, unions can use the new arrangements as a starting point for negotiating better flexible working arrangements.