The right to request flexible working

There is still not a right to work flexibly, but an employer is under a statutory duty to seriously consider any application and to provide good reasons for rejecting it.

To be eligible to apply for flexible working, an employee must:

• be an employee;

• have worked for their employer continuously for 26 weeks at the date the application is made, and;

• not have made another application to work flexibly during the past 12 months.

Employees can request:

• a change to the hours they work;

• a change to the times when they are required to work; or

• to work from home.