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Employees will still need to have 26 weeks’ service before they’re able to make a request. However, the Act does bring in several changes to how you manage requests.

What’s changing?

• Employees can make two flexible working requests each year (instead of just one);
• You have to deal with requests within two months (instead of three);
• You need to ‘consult’ with employees before refusing a request – unhelpfully, no definition of consultation has been provided at this stage;
• When making a request, employees are no longer required to explain how any challenges resulting from their proposed flexible working arrangement should be dealt with.

What’s not changing?

• Employees still need 26 weeks’ service before making a flexible working request. However, we expect the day-one right to come at a later stage through secondary legislation;
• The Act won’t introduce a legal right to appeal if a request is rejected (although ACAS recommend doing so in their Code of Practice on handling flexible working requests).