It has been in the news recently that the government is planning to introduce a mandatory right to a 4-day or compressed week.
Unsurprisingly, following these reports, the government has denied that it is going to impose this working pattern on businesses. However, the government is clearly considering strengthening the existing flexible working regime. Under Labour’s Pan to Make Work Pay, they have stated that they intend to make “flexible working the default from day one for all workers, except where it is not reasonably feasible”. A recent change in April 2024 to the current regime saw the right to request flexible working made available from the first day of employment. The government plans to “adapt and build on this baseline to ensure flexibility is a genuine default.”
There is no indication of how these changes will be implemented in practice, although it could be that we see new tougher rules on when a flexible working request can be refused and perhaps higher penalties for non-compliance. Under the current law, employers are obliged to deal with requests in a reasonable manner and can refuse a request for one of more legitimate business reasons (such as the burden of additional costs), as set out in the Employment Rights Act 1996. We expect that the current request and consultation procedure to identify and resolve pragmatic issues around working arrangements will be retained in some form.
We wait to see further details in the government’s draft Bill later this year and the consultation that will follow.
Frances Rollin