Flexible working requests in the UK: the rules, the deadline and the eight reasons to refuse

Every employee in Great Britain has the legal right to ask for flexible working from day one of the job — no qualifying service needed. The request is called a statutory application, the employer has two months to answer it, and a refusal is only lawful on one of eight business reasons set out in law. Here is how to make the request stick, and what to do if it is turned down.

Who can ask for flexible working?

All employees. There is no minimum length of service: you can make a request on your first day in a job. You can ask to change the number of hours you work, when you start or finish, which days you work, and where you work from. Northern Ireland has separate rules.

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GOV.UK lists eight recognised patterns. Job sharing, where two people split one job. Remote working, from anywhere other than your usual workplace. Hybrid working, a mix of the two. Part time, usually fewer days. Compressed hours, full-time hours over fewer days — a nine-day fortnight, for example. Flexitime, where you pick your start and finish within agreed limits but cover core hours such as 10am to 4pm. Annualised hours, counted over the year. Staggered hours, where your start, finish and break times differ from other staff. And phased retirement, cutting hours as you approach the end of your working life.

How do you make the request properly?

In writing — a letter or an email. ACAS publishes a template, and your employer may ask you to use their own standard form instead.

Four things must be in it: the date of the request; a statement that this is a statutory request for flexible working; details of how you want to work and when you want to start; and a statement saying whether you have made a previous application, with the date.

You can make two applications in any 12-month period. You can withdraw one, in writing. Be careful here: if you miss two meetings about your application or appeal without good reason — sickness counts as a good reason — the employer can treat the request as withdrawn, and must tell you they are doing so.

How long does the employer have to decide?

Two months from the request, unless you agree to longer. The law requires the employer to deal with it in a reasonable manner: weighing the advantages and disadvantages, discussing possible alternatives, and offering an appeal process.

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If the request is agreed, the employer should write to you with the agreed changes and a start date, then update your contract of employment — no later than 28 days after approval.

What are the lawful reasons to refuse?

The list is closed, and there are eight: extra costs that will damage the business; the work cannot be reorganised among other staff; people cannot be recruited to do the work; flexible working will affect quality; it will affect performance; the business will not be able to meet customer demand; there is a lack of work during the proposed hours; or the business is planning changes to the workforce.

An employer cannot refuse without talking to you first — discussing the request before refusing it is a separate legal requirement.

What can you do if you are refused?

There is no longer a statutory right of appeal. Many employers still run one, so the first question is whether yours has a procedure; if it does, follow it. If the refusal causes a wider problem, the normal workplace dispute procedure applies.

You can complain to an employment tribunal, but not simply because the answer was no. The grounds are different: the employer did not handle the request in a reasonable manner; wrongly treated your application as withdrawn; dismissed you or treated you badly because of the request — refusing a promotion or a pay rise, for example; or refused it based on incorrect facts.

The time limit is six months. It runs from the day you heard the decision on your application or appeal, or heard that the request had been treated as withdrawn, or from the date the employer should have responded and did not.

If you or your employer are unsure of your rights, take legal advice before going to a tribunal.