All employees have the statutory right to request flexible working. Under the statutory procedure, employees can make two requests in every 12-month period. These statutory requests should be dealt with formally.
If a staff member has already made two requests in the last 12 months, we should treat these request as informal requests.
If a member of staff requests to alter their contractual working arrangements, you should ensure they complete a flexible working request.
Requests could be to:
If someone wishes to increase their hours, please refer to the recruitment policy.
On receiving a request, you should forward a copy to the Human Resources department. Human Resources will arrange a meeting for you to discuss the request with the employee.
The purpose of the meeting is to:
Requests should be considered carefully and can only be declined for one of the 8 statutory reasons which are listed in the policy. Consider if a trial period might be appropriate to see if the new working arrangements will work for all parties.
Following the meeting, you will usually have 14 days to notify the employee of the outcome of their request in writing. This can be written in conjunction with Human Resources.
If the employee is not satisfied of the outcome, they can appeal the decision.
The appeal will be heard by a more senior manager than yourself.
During the appeal, both you and the employee will present evidence to the appeal manager, and they will make an independent decision on the employee’s request. Human Resources will then work in conjunction with the appeal manager to inform the employee of the outcome of the appeal in writing.
If you are happy to grant the request, you can do so without a formal meeting. You should confirm that their request has been accepted as soon as possible and notify Human Resources of the changes so the employee can be sent an amendment to contract.
All requests must be dealt within 2 months of the date of their application.
All staff may submit an informal request to their line manager, which would be considered on an informal basis. An informal meeting should be made to discuss the potential benefits to the department and the employee and any adverse impact of implementing the changes. Informal requests should be carefully considered and the outcome given to the employee in a reasonable timeframe (within two months).
