Flexible Working from Day One: The 2024 Reforms

The right to request flexible working has been in the Employment Rights Act 1996 (Part 8A) since 2003. The 2014 reform widened it from carers to all qualifying employees. The 2024 reform — the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 and the Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023 SI 2023/1328, both in force from 6 April 2024 — delivered five linked changes:

1. Day-one right. The 26-week qualifying period is gone. Any employee can make a statutory request from their first day.
2. Two requests per year. Up from one. The 12-month clock runs from the date a previous request was made.
3. Two-month employer response window. Down from three months. The window can be extended by mutual agreement.
4. No business-impact explanation required from the employee. Pre-2024 the employee had to set out how the change would affect the business and how it could be dealt with. That requirement is repealed.
5. Mandatory consultation before refusal. The amended Acas Statutory Code of Practice on Flexible Working (April 2024) requires the employer to consult the employee — typically a meeting — before refusing a request, and to explore alternatives.

The reform applies to employees in the statutory sense (s.230(1) ERA 1996). Workers and the self-employed do not have the statutory right, although contractual flexibility provisions may apply.

A statutory request must:

• Be in writing;
• Be dated;
• State that it is a statutory request under section 80F ERA 1996;
• Specify the change requested and the date you would like it to take effect;
• State whether the employee has made a previous statutory request and, if so, when.

The Acas Code template letter is a safe format. The request can cover any aspect of the working arrangements — hours, times, location, pattern — and can be temporary or permanent. Common examples: compressed hours (e.g. 9-day fortnight); reduced hours with proportional pay; shift to fully remote or hybrid; flexible start/finish times; term-time-only working for parents.

The 2024 changes mean you no longer need to set out the impact on the business or how to address it — but in practice including a brief constructive note about how the change will work in your particular role makes acceptance more likely.

Once the employer receives the request, the two-month clock starts. Within that window the employer must:

1. Consult the employee — typically a meeting (in person or online) before making a decision, to explore the request and any alternatives. The 2024 Acas Code makes consultation a procedural prerequisite to a valid refusal.
2. Make a decision — accept, accept with modifications, or refuse on one of the eight statutory grounds.
3. Communicate the decision in writing, including the reasons if refused and the right to appeal under the employer's internal procedure.

If the request is accepted, the change to terms and conditions is permanent (unless agreed otherwise) and the employee should receive an updated written statement of particulars within one month under section 4 ERA 1996.

The eight statutory grounds for refusal (s.80G ERA 1996) are unchanged by the 2024 reforms:

1. The burden of additional costs;
2. Detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand;
3. Inability to reorganise work among existing staff;
4. Inability to recruit additional staff;
5. Detrimental impact on quality;
6. Detrimental impact on performance;
7. Insufficiency of work during the periods the employee proposes to work;
8. Planned structural changes.

The employer must reasonably believe one of these grounds applies — a mere assertion is not enough if the consultation has not been carried out properly.

If your request is refused or the employer fails to follow the procedure properly:

1. Internal appeal. Most employers have a flexible-working appeals process under the Acas Code. Use it first — it is faster and free, and it preserves your tribunal claim window. Set out clearly why you believe the refusal is wrong (no proper consultation, factually incorrect ground, alternatives not considered).
2. Grievance. If the appeal is unsuccessful, raise a grievance under the employer's grievance procedure. This creates a written record and is required for some tribunal claims.
3. ACAS Early Conciliation. Before issuing in the Employment Tribunal you must notify ACAS — this is a free service that often produces a settlement. The conciliation period pauses the limitation clock.
4. Employment Tribunal. Bring a claim within 3 months less 1 day of the act complained of (often the refusal letter date). You can claim that the employer failed to follow the proper procedure, or that the decision was based on incorrect facts, or that the refusal amounted to indirect sex discrimination (if you are a parent or carer and the refusal makes it harder for you to continue working).

Statutory remedies are limited to a declaration and compensation of up to 8 weeks' actual pay (currently capped at 8 × the s.227 ERA cap of £700 per week from April 2026 = £5,600). However, a parallel indirect-discrimination claim under the Equality Act 2010 — which is common in flexible-working refusals affecting women with caring responsibilities — has no compensation cap and can award substantial damages including injury to feelings (Vento bands range from £1,200 to £58,700+).

The combined ET + Equality Act claim is the route most commonly used in significant flexible-working disputes.

The 2024 reforms sit within a wider movement on working arrangements:

• Right to disconnect. The Labour government has signalled support for a statutory right to disconnect — but there is no Act yet. Some employers have introduced policies voluntarily. Watch for forthcoming consultation in 2026.
• Hybrid working. Most large UK employers have settled on 2–3 office days per week as the post-pandemic norm. A request for fully-remote working is now a normal flexible-working request and should be assessed on the same statutory grounds.
• Right to predictable working hours. The Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023 was repealed in October 2024 by the new government and replaced with proposals under the Employment Rights Bill 2024. The position is in flux — for now, zero-hours workers can rely on the existing flexible-working request route once they have a sufficient pattern of work, and on the Working Time Regulations 1998 rest provisions.
• Indirect sex discrimination. The leading cases (most recently Dobson v North Cumbria ICB [2021] and Carl v University of Sheffield [2009]) confirm that a refusal to allow flexible working that puts mothers at a particular disadvantage is indirect discrimination, justifiable only if proportionate. The employer's burden to justify is significantly higher than the s.80G test.