Employment Rights (Flexible Working) Act 2023

ACAS publishes guidance on flexible working.

On the 6th April 2024 the new ACAS Code of Practice for flexible working was published providing guidance and advice for employers and employees on the new flexible work regime which also came into force in April.

The Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023 allow employees and agency workers returning from parental leave to make a flexible work request from day one of their employment, abolishing the previous requirement of 26 weeks continuous service before a request could be made. Whilst the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 introduces the requirement for consultation with an employee prior to refusal of a request, a reduction in the time an employer has to deal with a request from 3 months down to 2, and an increase in the amount of requests permitted to 2 (which will also include a predictable terms and conditions request when in force) in any 12 month period. These changes are not applicable to Northern Ireland, where the flexible work legislation remains unchanged.

The updated ACAS guidance should be followed as part of any flexible work request and whilst failure to do so will not directly give rise to an Employment Tribunal claim, it will be very difficult to show the request was delt with in a “reasonable manner” as required by the legislation without doing so.

Credit: REC