Flexible Working

The Issue

Flexible working legislation initially allowed parents with a child under 6 or a disabled child under 18 to make a request for flexible working, and placed a duty on employers to consider such request seriously and only reject them for good business reasons. On 6 April 2007 the Government extended the right to request flexible working to the carers of adults. There is now a debate about whether this right should be extended to all workers and EEF is concerned that this will simply result in more burdens for employers.

EEF's Objectives

Until now, the government has taken an incremental approach to extending the right to request flexible working, with the initial right for parents with young and disabled children being extended to a limited category of employees (the carers of adults).

However, the Conservative Party has already pledged to extend this right to request to all employees and the government is coming under increasing pressure from the TUC and some Labour MPs to do likewise. In the Queen’s Speech, the government announced an independent review of this subject which will be led by Imelda Walsh, HR Director of Sainsbury, and she is expected to report in Spring 2008.

At the same time there are others – for example, the new Liberal Democrat Leader, Nick Clegg, made this a theme of his leadership campaign - who believe that employers should have to pass a tougher test before turning down requests for flexible working. There has also been interest amongst MEPs and some Commission officials in the possibility of the EU legislating in this area.

In December 2007, EEF surveyed members on the subject and we are currently examining these responses. Until now, members have been broadly divided on the idea of extending the right to request flexible working and we have therefore adopted a sceptical stance on any further extension of the right.

We expect the survey to give us a clearer steer on the position that EEF should adopt in the future. Regardless of this, however, we would oppose anything that would result in employers having to pass a tougher test, beyond existing discrimination laws, for turning down requests.