Flexible Working Requests: The Employer's Guide to the 2026 Rules

Flexible working requests are one of the most common HR situations any employer faces. They are also one of the most legally sensitive. Get the process wrong and you are looking at employment tribunal claims, discrimination allegations, and significant awards.

The rules tightened in 2024 when flexible working became a day one right. The Employment Rights Act 2025 is tightening them further. This guide tells you exactly where things stand now, what is changing, what your legal obligations are, and how to handle requests properly from the moment they land on your desk.

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What Is a Flexible Working Request?

A flexible working request (FWR) is a formal statutory request from an employee asking you to change the terms of their employment in relation to:

• Hours of work (for example, fewer hours, part-time, different shift patterns)
• Times of work (for example, starting and finishing at different times)
• Place of work (for example, working from home, remote working, hybrid arrangements)

Any combination of these is possible. A single request could ask for reduced hours and remote working at the same time.

Flexible working includes (but is not limited to):

• Part-time working
• Job sharing
• Compressed hours (same hours, fewer days)
• Flexitime (flexible start and finish times within core hours)
• Homeworking or remote working
• Hybrid working (split between office and home)
• Annualised hours
• Term-time working

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The Current Rules: What Employers Must Know

Day One Right Since April 2024

The right to request flexible working has been a day one right since 6 April 2024. Every employee, from their first day of employment, can make a statutory flexible working request.

Before that date, employees had to wait 26 weeks before they could make a request. That waiting period is long gone.

Two Requests Per Year

Employees can make two statutory flexible working requests in any 12-month period. They can only have one live request at a time. Once a request is decided (or withdrawn), they can submit another.

This limit applies to statutory requests only. Employees can still have informal conversations about flexible arrangements outside this process.

The Two-Month Decision Period

You must make a final decision on a flexible working request, including any appeal, within two calendar months of receiving the request. If you need more time, you can agree an extension with the employee.

The two-month clock starts from the date you receive the written request. Do not let requests sit unanswered.

You Must Consult Before Refusing

Before you refuse a flexible working request, you must consult the employee. You cannot simply write back to say no without a meeting. Consultation means having a genuine discussion about the request, exploring whether the request (or a variation of it) could work.

If you agree to the request in full without any amendment, you do not need to consult first. But if you are going to refuse or modify it, consultation is mandatory.

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What the Employment Rights Act 2025 Is Changing

The ERA 2025 introduces an important shift in how refusals are assessed. Currently, the law allows you to refuse a flexible working request if it relates to one of the eight permitted business reasons (covered below). The tribunal could only look at whether you followed the correct procedure, not whether your reason was actually well-founded.

The ERA 2025 changes this. From the date these provisions come into force, tribunals will be able to assess whether a refusal was reasonable, not just whether a procedure was followed. This is a significant raise of the bar.

The exact date for this change is subject to government consultation and has not been confirmed at the time of writing. It is expected later in 2026 or in 2027. However, the direction is clear, and employers who have relied on simply ticking the right box when refusing requests will need to reassess their approach.

In practice, this means you will need to be able to show that:

• You genuinely considered the request
• You explored alternatives
• Your refusal was based on a real business need, not just a preference for the current working arrangement
• The reason for refusal was proportionate

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The 8 Permitted Business Reasons to Refuse

You can only refuse a flexible working request on one or more of the following grounds. These are set out in the Employment Rights Act 1996 and remain in force under the ERA 2025:

1. The burden of additional costs. For example, you would need to pay for extra recruitment or overtime to cover the changed arrangement and the cost would be unreasonable.

2. An inability to reorganise work among existing staff. The employee's work cannot be redistributed among the team without disproportionate disruption.

3. An inability to recruit additional staff. You cannot fill the gap created by the flexible arrangement because the role cannot be split or the hours are not attractive to candidates.

4. A detrimental impact on quality. The quality of work, output, or customer experience would be materially worse under the proposed arrangement.

5. A detrimental impact on performance. The employee's own performance or the performance of their team would suffer.

6. A detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand. Customers need access to the employee at times that conflict with the proposed arrangement and the impact is significant.

7. Insufficient work during the periods the employee proposes to work. There is simply not enough work available during the hours or days requested.

8. Planned structural changes. The business is planning organisational changes that make the proposed arrangement impractical, for example a restructure that will affect the role.

Under current rules, you must identify one or more of these reasons in your written refusal. You do not have to prove the reason is justified, though good practice dictates you should be able to.

Under the ERA 2025 changes, you will need to demonstrate that the reason actually applied and that refusal was a reasonable response. Simply naming the reason will not be enough.

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How to Handle a Flexible Working Request: Step by Step

Step 1: Receive the written request

A statutory flexible working request must be in writing (email counts) and must state:

• The date of the request
• What change the employee is asking for (hours, times, or place of work)
• The date they want the change to take effect
• Whether they have made a previous request, and if so, when

If the request does not contain all of this information, you can ask the employee to resubmit it with the missing details. However, be aware that asking for unnecessary clarification to delay the process is poor practice and can look evasive.

Step 2: Acknowledge receipt and arrange a meeting

Acknowledge the request promptly. Schedule a meeting with the employee to discuss it. ACAS recommends allowing the employee to be accompanied by a trade union representative or a work colleague if they request it.

Approach the meeting with an open mind. The purpose is to understand the request, explore how it might work, and discuss any concerns or alternative options. It is not a hearing to tell the employee your decision.

Step 3: Genuinely consider the request

After the meeting, think carefully about:

• Whether the arrangement could work in full
• Whether a modified version could work (different hours, a trial period, a phased introduction)
• What the business impact would genuinely be
• Whether one of the eight permitted reasons applies, and if so, how strongly

If you are going to refuse, document your thinking. The more detailed and honest your consideration, the more defensible your position if a claim is made.

Step 4: Communicate your decision in writing

Tell the employee your decision in writing within two months of the original request (or any agreed extension). If you are:

• Accepting: Confirm the new arrangement, the start date, and any conditions.
• Refusing: State which of the eight permitted business reasons applies and explain why that reason applies to this specific request. A generic refusal without specific reasoning is a weak position.
• Offering a modified arrangement: Explain the modification, why you cannot accommodate the original request in full, and invite the employee to accept, reject, or appeal.

Step 5: Handle any appeal

The Acas Code of Practice recommends offering an appeals process. While it is not a strict legal requirement, failing to offer one is likely to be taken into account by a tribunal if the matter escalates.

The appeal should be handled by someone who was not involved in the original decision, if possible. The appeal outcome must be communicated within the two-month overall decision window, or any agreed extension.

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Flexible Working and Discrimination

Flexible working requests frequently interact with discrimination law. This is one of the most important things to understand.

If a person with a protected characteristic (disability, sex, pregnancy, age, religion, etc.) requests flexible working and you refuse, and they can show that the refusal disproportionately disadvantages people sharing that characteristic, you may face an indirect discrimination claim.

Common examples:

• A woman returning from maternity leave requests reduced hours to manage childcare. Refusal could be indirect sex discrimination.
• An employee with a disability requests to work from home. Refusal without exploring it as a reasonable adjustment could be direct discrimination.
• An older worker requests a compressed work week. Refusal based on assumptions about age-related performance could be age discrimination.

The message is clear: treat every flexible working request on its own merits, never make assumptions based on who is asking, and document your reasoning carefully.

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What a Good Flexible Working Policy Looks Like

Every employer should have a written flexible working policy. Here is a template outline you can adapt:

Section 1: Introduction and Purpose Explain that the business values flexible working and is committed to considering requests fairly.

Section 2: Who Can Apply State that all employees have the right to request flexible working from their first day of employment.

Section 3: Types of Flexible Working List the types of flexible working arrangements the business can consider (part-time, homeworking, compressed hours, etc.).

Section 4: How to Make a Request Set out the process: written request, required information, how to submit.

Section 5: How Requests Are Considered Describe the meeting process, who attends, the right to be accompanied, and the timeline (two months for a decision).

Section 6: Grounds for Refusal List the eight permitted business reasons. State that any refusal will identify the reason and explain how it applies.

Section 7: Accepting a Request Explain that accepted arrangements become a permanent change to the employment contract unless otherwise agreed, and that the employee cannot simply revert to their old arrangement without making a new request.

Section 8: Appeals Describe the appeals process, who handles it, and the timeline.

Section 9: Interaction with Other Policies Note how the flexible working policy interacts with the business's other policies (absence, data protection for home workers, health and safety for remote workers).

Section 10: Contact for Queries Who to speak to with questions about the policy.

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What Happens If You Get It Wrong

If an employer fails to follow the statutory flexible working process, an employee can bring a tribunal claim. The tribunal can:

• Order the employer to reconsider the request properly
• Award compensation of up to eight weeks' pay for procedural breaches

Eight weeks' pay is a relatively modest award on its own. The real risk is when a flexible working refusal overlaps with a discrimination claim. Discrimination compensation is uncapped and can reach tens of thousands of pounds in serious cases.

The ERA 2025 reasonableness test, once in force, will make it easier for employees to win on the merits of a refusal, not just a procedural point.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can we put a new employee on a trial period before agreeing to a permanent flexible arrangement?

Yes. A trial period can be a sensible middle ground when you are not certain whether an arrangement will work. Agree the duration, what you will review, and what happens at the end of the trial. Put it in writing. Be clear whether the arrangement becomes permanent at the end of a successful trial, or whether a further decision is needed.

Q: An employee asked for flexible working informally and we agreed. Does that count as a statutory request?

Not necessarily. If the employee did not make a formal written request following the statutory procedure, it was an informal agreement rather than a statutory request. Informal agreements can be changed more easily than statutory ones (though you should still follow a fair process). Advise employees that if they want the formal protections of the statutory process, they should submit a written request.

Q: An employee has already used two flexible working requests this year and wants to make a third. What do we do?

You are not legally obliged to consider a third statutory request in a 12-month period. However, you may choose to consider it informally as a matter of goodwill or business need. Make clear that this is outside the statutory process and that the formal protections do not apply.

Q: Must we allow an employee to be accompanied at a flexible working meeting?

ACAS guidance recommends allowing it. The Acas Code of Practice suggests it is good practice. Refusing to allow a companion is not a procedural breach in the same way as refusing one in a disciplinary hearing, but it is noted in the Code as best practice. Be cautious about refusing, particularly if the employee has a reason for wanting a support person.

Q: We granted a flexible working request a year ago and it is not working. Can we reverse it?

Once a flexible working request is accepted and implemented, it becomes a permanent change to the employment contract. You cannot unilaterally reverse it. If you need to change it back, you must go through a contractual variation process: consult with the employee, explain the business reason, and reach agreement. Imposing a change without agreement risks a constructive dismissal claim.

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Last updated: April 2026