Following a recent consultation, the government’s conciliation service, Acas, has published a revised code and guidance on flexible working.
The aim behind the publication, ‘Handling requests to work flexibly in a reasonable manner: an Acas guide’, is to help employers prepare for the change in law later this year when all employees with 26 weeks’ service will have the right to ask to work flexibly. Currently this is only available to employees who have parental responsibility for a child aged 16 (or under 18 in the case of a disabled child).
The change of law will be introduced as part of the Children and Families Bill 2013, which provides for the expansion of the right to all employees and the removal of the statutory process that employers must currently follow when considering requests for flexible working.
It is not yet clear, however, when the changes will take effect. Although the Bill is due to receive Royal Assent in March or April this year, the government has not set a date for the actual provisions on flexible working to come into force.
According to the charity Working Families, it cannot happen soon enough. Its report on life for working families in the UK published last week found that expectations for work-life balance were changing significantly, particularly among younger working fathers.
The report - “Time, Health and the Family” - found that fathers in the 26 to 35 age group were the most resentful towards their employer about their work-life balance. Although mothers were usually the first port of call when things went wrong at school, these fathers reported they were almost as likely as their partner to be called.
Although over 90 per cent of UK organisations say that they offer at least one form of flexible working, a third of parents reported that there was no flexible working on offer in their workplaces. Education, health and retail were the three areas that were most likely not to do so.
The research was based on the results of a survey of over a thousand respondents all of whom had dependent children and with an even mother/father representation.
Iain Birrell at Thompsons Solicitors said: “The ability to work flexibly repeatedly comes up as a key issue in studies into staff contentment and skills retention. Anything that assists with that has to be a welcome addition for employees and employers alike.”
To access the Acas code, go to: http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=4699
To read the full report by Working Families, go to: http://www.workingfamilies.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Time-Health-and-the-Family-2014.pdf