In a change introduced by the Keir Starmer government, employment tribunals will be able to consider whether it was reasonable for an employer to decide to reject a request.
- The employer has to act reasonably in refusing a request, and may still rely on the eight business reasons in doing so. This is intended to encourage careful consideration of requests, and thus to enhance access to flexible working.
- The current Right to Request mechanism is otherwise retained.
- Workers will not be covered – still restricted to employees