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Children and Families Act 2014

Part 9: Right to request flexible working

29.Part 9 provides for the expansion of the right to request flexible working from employees who are parents or carers to all employees, and the removal of the statutory process that employers must currently follow when considering requests for flexible working. The Government’s policy reforms for the right to request flexible working are set out in its paper Modern Workplaces – Government Response on Flexible Working (published in November 2012). This Part sets out the statutory provisions to support those reforms.

30.Changes enable employers to consider requests using their existing HR processes instead of having to follow a statutory procedure.

31.These sections amend the Employment Rights Act 1996 (“ERA”). Following consultation the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (“ACAS”) has published a draft Code of Practice on handling requests to work flexibly in a reasonable manner. This Code will explain what the minimum requirements are in order to consider a request in a reasonable manner. If neither House of Parliament resolves that no further proceedings shall be taken, the Code of Practice will be issued using powers in the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 and will be brought into force by order on a date appointed by the Secretary of State.

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