“There has been a global shift to flexible working following the pandemic, which has allowed more people to better balance their working lives and employers have also benefitted from being an attractive place to work. Our new Code aims to foster flexible working further and covers the new law changes. It sets out good practice on flexible working requests and will help employers and employees avoid any pitfalls.” - Acas Chief Executive, Susan Clews

Acas have published a statutory Code together with accompanying guidance which can both be found on the Acas website.

From 6 April 2024, all employees have the right to ask their employer if they can work flexibly from their first day of employment.

The new Code covers the new changes to the law around statutory flexible working requests. These are:

• a new right to request flexible working from the first day of employment

• allowing an employee to make two flexible working requests in any 12-month period rather than one

• a new requirement that an employer must not reject a request without consulting the employee first

• employers now having two months to decide on the request rather than the previous three.

During the consultation process, 77% of respondents agreed that Acas should reconsider the overall good practice principles when updating the Code to reflect changes to the law.

There are many types of flexible working including part-time working, flexitime, job sharing, staggered hours, and hybrid and home working.

The starting point for businesses should be to consider what may be possible.

It is important that employers comply with the Code as any breach may be considered by an employment tribunal for relevant cases.

Please do get in contact if you have any questions or want to discuss any of the new legislations further.