New right for all employees to request flexible working delayed

Plans to introduce the right to request flexible working for all employees on 6 April 2014 have been held up by delays to the Children and Families Bill.

The House of Commons has agreed a new target date of 21 March 2014 for Royal Assent of the Children and Families Bill, delaying the extension of the right to request flexible working to all employees. Currently only employees with children under the age of 17 (18 if the child is disabled) or who are carers have the right to request a flexible pattern of work.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has confirmed to XpertHR that it will no longer be possible to implement the extension on 6 April. It said that the Government will look to implement the extension at “an appropriate date as soon as possible this year”.

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Sarah Anderson, employment law editor at XpertHR, said: “Employers should keep an eye out for a new implementation date for the extension of the right to request flexible working to all employees and the abolition of the statutory procedure for considering requests for flexible working, and continue to prepare for these changes, including undertaking a review of their flexible working policies, if any.”

This article was updated on 23 January 2014 following confirmation from BIS that the abolition of the current statutory procedure for considering flexible working requests will also be delayed.