Flexible Working For Parents

Greater Manchester Pay and Employment Rights Advice Service Factsheet

Flexible Working for Parents

Parents with children aged under 6, and parents of disabled children up to the age of 18 were given the right to request a flexible working pattern on 6^th April 2003. On 6^th April 2009 this right was extended to parents of all children under 17, (and parents of disabled children up to 18). The rights outlined in this factsheet are the basic rights given by law (statutory rights). Some employees will have better rights by agreement with their employers (contractual rights). This law does not take away rights under the contract of employment. Women can also continue to ask for child friendly working hours under sex discrimination law. Requests for leave can also be made under parental leave legislation.

Purpose of the right

To enable mothers and fathers to request to work flexibly. It does not provide an automatic right to work flexibly.
To facilitate discussion and encourage both employee and employer to consider flexible working patterns and find a solution that suits both of them.
To place a statutory duty on employers to seriously consider applications for flexible working.

Eligibility

To make a request an individual must:-

Be an employee, not a “worker” in the wider sense such as an agency worker;
Be the biological parent or legal guardian, adoptive or foster parent who has or expects to have responsibility for the child’s upbringing; or be the spouse or partner (including a same sex partner) of the child’s parent or guardian as long as they have or expect to have responsibility for the child’s upbringing;
Have a child under 17, or under 18 in the case of a disabled child;
Have worked for the employer continuously for 26 weeks at the date the application is made;
Make the application no later than two weeks before the child’s 17th birthday, or 18^th birthday in the case of a disabled child;
Be making the application to enable them to care for the child;
Not be a member of the armed forces;
Not have made another application to work flexibly under the right during the last 12 months.

Scope of the request

Parents can ask to change:

Hours worked, such as starting later in order to take a child to nursery;
Times of work, such as working part-time to fit in with childminding;
Place of work, such as working at home some or all of the time.

Examples of work patterns

Specific requests for changes to contracted hours may include for example: reduction of hours; part-time working; shift swapping; career breaks; annualised hours; compressed hours; flexitime; homeworking; job-sharing; shift working; staggered hours and term time working.

THE PROCEDURE

Employees’ rights and responsibilities

An employee must make an application in writing and the government has produced a special form on which to do so. We can provide you with a copy of this, or they are also available from Jobcentre Plus or from the government`s website.
If agreed, the application will mean a permanent change to the employee’s terms and conditions of employment.
An employee is entitled to have a companion present when meeting with the employer.

Making the application

An employee’s application should contain the following information:-

The working pattern the employee wishes to adopt.
The date when the employee would like the new working pattern to start. The proposed date should allow time for the application to be considered and implemented. There is no set time but an employee can expect it to take around 14 weeks or longer if a problem arises.
When making an application it is important to address some of the business concerns that the employer may have if the contract was to be changed. An employer can reject a request for the following business reasons: additional costs involved; the impact of the change upon customer demand; quality and performance; the inability to re-organise work among existing staff; the inability to recruit additional staff; planned structural changes or because there is insufficient work during the periods that the employee may wish to work.

Employer’s legal duties

The employer must arrange a meeting with the employee within 28 days of receiving the application where both parties can explore any problems arising from the request and, if necessary, consider alternative working patterns.
Within 14 days of the meeting the employer must write to the employee to either agree to a new work pattern and a start date; or
If the employer refuses the application they must provide clear factual business reasons as to why the application cannot be accepted.

Enforcing these rights

The employee has the right to appeal their employer’s decision within 14 days of it being notified to them. The appeal must be processed before a claim can be made to an Employment Tribunal.
If after appealing an employee is still not satisfied that their employer has followed the correct procedure, a grievance letter should first of all be sent to the employer; see our factsheet Grievances for guidance about doing this.
A complaint can be made to the Employment Tribunal within 3 months of the act complained about.
An employer has to show an Employment Tribunal that they followed the procedure correctly. The Tribunal can order the employer to reconsider the application and/or award compensation of 8 weeks` pay (limited to a maximum amount which is reviewed annually; check for current amount).
A female employee can also make a complaint of sex discrimination if a request is refused without good reason. In the case of a male employee, a case of sex discrimination can be brought if his employer treats his request less favourably than one made by a female employee of the business.
Compensation awards are generally higher under sex discrimination law and may be greater than compensation of eight weeks` pay. Further, the Sex Discrimination Act allows tribunals to scrutinise an employer’s reason for refusing, whereas in a claim under the right to request flexible working a tribunal can only look at whether the employer followed the proper procedure. It cannot question the employer’s decision.
Employees considering making a complaint to Employment Tribunal should take legal advice before doing so.

If you need more information about pay and employment rights, contact

Greater Manchester Pay and Employment Rights Advice Service

( 0161 839 3888 phone and answer machine)

4^th Floor, Swan Buildings, 20 Swan Street, Manchester M4 5JW

We provide telephone advice only and cannot see people face to face

or visit our website: www.gmemploymentrights.org.uk

Trade Unions

Trade Unions help workers to get better pay and work conditions.

For further information contact us or;

North West TUC, Suite 505-510, The Cotton Exchange, Old Hall Street, Liverpool, L3 9UD

Tel: 0151 236 5432

Greater Manchester Pay and Employment Rights Advice Service is an independent research and information body funded by all local authorities in Greater Manchester under the AGMA grants scheme.

August 2010