The Employment Rights Bill was published on 10th October 2024, with the Labour Government promising the biggest upgrade to rights at work for a generation.
The Bill includes, but is not limited to, new protection against unfair dismissal, changes to SSP, more guarantee to workers on zero-hour contracts and more protection from fire and re-hire. Now let’s consider the Bills impact on flexible working.
Flexible working can bring many benefits to employers and employees and help with a better work/life balance. Flexible working might include part-time working, homeworking, hybrid working, compressed hours or term time only working.
Recent changes in the right to request flexible working include it being a day one right to request and two requests can be made within a 12-month period. However, what does the Employment Rights Bill state for future changes.
The main suggested changes within the Bill appear to be that Employers must provide a valid reason for refusing a flexible working request and demonstrate that the refusal is reasonable.
For many, this may not make much of a difference, as employers who were already following the ACAS Code of Practice would have been advised to confirm any decisions in writing. While the reasons to justify a reasonable refusal are unchanged by the Employment Rights Bill, the 8 reasons, as detailed below, remain the same:
- the burden of additional costs
- an inability to reorganise work amongst existing staff
- an inability to recruit additional staff
- a detrimental impact on quality
- a detrimental impact on performance
- a detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand
- insufficient work available for the periods the employee proposes to work
- planned structural changes to the employer's business
The proposed changes to the Bill are set to take effect in 2026, so the full impact remains to be seen. However, based on the current information, the changes are likely to have a minimal effect and fall short of establishing an automatic right to flexible working.
For more advice, visit Wirehouse Employer Services website here or call 03333 215005 or email info@wirehouse-es.com.
