What are the flexible working request rules?
In Great Britain, you can ask to change your hours, working times or workplace from day one. The right to ask is not a right to get the pattern you want.
You can ask for different hours or a different workplace from day one as an employee in Great Britain. If the rota is clashing with care, childcare or your health, write down the pattern you need today and send a dated request. You do not owe your employer a business case. It must consult before refusing, and decide within two months unless you agree an extension.
- Day 1
- GB employee right since 6 Apr 2024
- 2 mths
- decision deadline including any appeal
- 2 max
- requests per rolling 12 months in GB
- £6,008
- GB statutory claim ceiling from 6 Apr 2026
Who can ask, and what you can ask for
The statutory right belongs to employees, including full-time, part-time, fixed-term, zero-hours and probationary staff. There is no minimum service or hours threshold, and no small-employer exemption. You can raise a request after accepting a job offer for a change that starts when you join.
People who are workers but not employees, and the genuinely self-employed, can ask informally but do not have this statutory right. Most agency workers are excluded even if employed by an agency. The legislation makes an exception for an agency worker returning from statutory parental leave. If you work directly for the hirer rather than being supplied by an agency, check your employment status. See employee, worker or self-employed?
A statutory request concerns hours, working times or where you work, with the place of work covering home and an employer’s place of business. You could ask to work four days instead of five, start later or spend two days at home. The request does not cover changes to pay, duties or grade, although fewer hours will often mean pro-rated pay and leave.
Employee
- Statutory right from day one in Great Britain
- Protection against detriment or dismissal for asking
- Can claim for specified failures in the process
Worker / self-employed
- No statutory right to request
- Can ask informally or negotiate contract terms
- Separate discrimination protections may apply
What can flexible working look like?
You can ask for a pattern that fits your circumstances and the job. These are common options:
| Pattern | What changes | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Part-time | Fewer days or shorter days | Pay and holiday pro-rated; check part-time worker rights |
| Flexitime / staggered hours | Same hours, different start and finish | Core hours and cover still need agreement |
| Compressed hours | Full-time hours over fewer days | Long days must still meet working-time limits |
| Hybrid / remote | Place of work, partly or fully | See remote work contracts and home safety |
| Job-share / annualised hours | Role split, or hours averaged over a year | Needs a clear written rota; see annualised-hours contracts |
For a one-off swap, an informal conversation may be quicker. It does not trigger the statutory request timetable. Put a lasting change in a statutory request, especially if you need a decision by a set date.
How to make a statutory request
You do not have to set out the likely effect on the business or a plan to manage it. That requirement ended on 6 April 2024. A brief explanation of how the arrangement would work can still help win agreement.
Make the request fit the job, not an office template. A care worker might ask for a fixed start time to make travel between visits workable; a warehouse worker might ask for four set shifts, or a hospitality worker for a rota published around agreed caring hours. You are asking for a decision, not promising the arrangement will be accepted.
- Check your quota. You can make two statutory requests in any rolling 12 months, but only one can be live at a time. An appeal can keep a request live; it ends when decided, withdrawn, agreed or the decision period expires.
- Write and date it. Say this is a statutory application under section 80F of the Employment Rights Act 1996, describe the change and proposed start date, and say whether and when you have previously applied to this employer.
- Keep proof of sending. Your contract or handbook may say where to send it. The two-month clock starts when you make the application.
- Discuss possible arrangements. The employer must consult you before refusing. If a meeting is arranged, ask about being accompanied under the Acas Code.
- Confirm the outcome. If agreed, get the new terms and start date in writing. If refused, ask which statutory ground applies and why the employer thinks it does.
How long does an employer have to decide?
Your employer must deal with the request in a reasonable manner and notify you of the decision within two months of the application date, including any appeal. An appeal must fit inside that deadline too. Raise it promptly if you want it heard.
The period can be extended, but only by agreement. That agreement can be made retrospectively, provided it is made within three months of the original deadline expiring. Get any extension in writing, with the new end date.
Example: Amara’s deadline
Amara sends her dated request on 15 January 2027. Her employer must notify its decision, including the outcome of any appeal, by 15 March 2027. They can agree an extension, for example to 29 March to consider a trial rota. Amara should get the new date in writing. Without an agreement or decision by 15 March, she may bring a tribunal complaint.
The quota runs on a rolling year. Requests on 10 March and 2 September 2026 use up both slots until 10 March 2027. Even if you have a slot left, you cannot submit another statutory request while one is live; an appeal can keep it live. You can always ask informally.
On what grounds can an employer refuse?
The law permits eight grounds for refusal. “It doesn’t suit the team” is not a ninth. Your employer must identify a permitted ground and base its decision on correct facts.
| Ground | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Burden of additional costs | The proposed pattern would add staffing or operating costs |
| Detrimental effect on customer demand | Cover or service levels would suffer |
| Inability to re-organise work among existing staff | The work cannot be redistributed among current colleagues |
| Inability to recruit additional staff | The gap cannot be filled by hiring |
| Detrimental impact on quality | Output standards would drop |
| Detrimental impact on performance | Team or business performance would suffer |
| Insufficiency of work during proposed periods | There is not enough work when you want to work |
| Planned structural changes | A planned reorganisation would change the proposed arrangement |
As at 1 October 2026, your employer must consider that a listed ground applies, consult you first and deal with the request reasonably. A tribunal can examine failures in that process and whether a rejection relied on incorrect facts. It cannot replace the employer’s business judgement simply because it would have reached another decision. A separate reasonableness test for refusal is planned, not yet in force.
Can I appeal a flexible working refusal?
There is no statutory right to an appeal, but the Acas Code recommends one. Ask promptly. An appeal does not restart the two-month clock, so you need an agreed extension if the process will run longer.
If the answer is still no, ask which permitted ground applies and check the facts behind the decision and the consultation record. A tribunal complaint concerns a breach of the statutory duties or incorrect facts. Disagreeing with the refusal is not enough. If your employer offers an appeal or trial, watch the tribunal deadline. Where there is an appeal, the time for a statutory complaint normally runs from the final appeal decision.
If your request is approved
An agreed change is a permanent variation of your contract unless you have expressly agreed otherwise, such as a three-month trial with a review date. Get the new hours, place of work, start date, pay and holiday in writing. You have no automatic right to revert afterwards; a return to old hours needs fresh agreement.
Example: pay and holiday when going part-time
Theo earns £30,000 for five days a week and agrees to work four days at the same daily hours (0.8 FTE). At a pro-rated rate, salary becomes £24,000. Statutory holiday is 5.6 weeks × 4 days = 22.4 days a year; it cannot be rounded down. The extra day off is not a paid fifth day. Less favourable treatment of a comparable part-timer beyond lawful pro-rating may breach the rules. See part-time worker rights.
With compressed hours, 37.5 hours across four equal days means 9 hours, 22 minutes and 30 seconds of work a day. The working-time rules still apply, including a 20-minute uninterrupted rest break when working more than six hours, 11 hours’ daily rest and the 48-hour average weekly limit unless you opt out.
If your employer gets it wrong
Under section 80H, you can bring a complaint if your employer fails to decide in time, fails to consult before refusing, rejects the request on an impermissible ground or incorrect facts, or wrongly treats it as withdrawn. You cannot ordinarily bring this particular complaint until the employer gives its decision or the decision period ends without one. If it offers an appeal, the final appeal decision matters.
The relevant date determines your claim deadline. Where the first date you can bring the complaint is on or after 1 October 2026, the new six-month limit applies. Earlier relevant dates keep the three-month limit. For a refusal on 2 October 2026 with no appeal, plan to lodge before 2 April 2027; a 28 September refusal with no appeal remains under the earlier limit. Contact Acas for early conciliation before claiming; it can pause the tribunal clock. Do not assume an internal appeal by itself pauses it.
An employment tribunal claim has no issue fee. If your statutory flexible-working complaint succeeds, the tribunal can declare a breach, order reconsideration and award compensation it considers just and equitable, up to eight weeks’ pay. The capped week’s pay in Great Britain has been £751 since 6 April 2026, so the maximum is £6,008 (8 × £751). If your actual weekly pay is £500, the eight-week ceiling is £4,000. These are ceilings, not typical awards. See how to bring a tribunal claim.
Equality law is a separate route, and it may matter more than the statutory request procedure. A blanket refusal of part-time work could indirectly discriminate against women with childcare responsibilities. A disabled employee may need adjusted hours as a reasonable adjustment. The employer may have a defence to an indirect-discrimination claim; the facts and justification matter. Compensation for discrimination is not capped at eight weeks’ pay. For relevant acts on or after 1 October 2026, the Equality Act tribunal window is generally six months, subject to early-conciliation rules. See discrimination at work and reasonable adjustments.
Do not face a refusal alone. UNISON represents workers across care and health; Unite and GMB have members in hospitality, food, retail and logistics. Ask your union about representation. For free advice, try Citizens Advice, a law centre or Acas; Acas early conciliation is the route before an employment tribunal claim. Report suspected minimum-wage underpayment to HMRC, labour exploitation in GLAA-regulated sectors to the GLAA, and unsafe work to the HSE. Those are separate problems, but they can sit behind the same rota.
Scotland and Northern Ireland
Scotland follows the same Great Britain rules. Employment law is reserved, so the day-one right, two requests and two-month deadline all apply.
Northern Ireland does not. It remains on the pre-2024 regime under the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 and the Flexible Working Regulations (NI) 2015:
| Rule | Great Britain | Northern Ireland |
|---|---|---|
| Service needed | None, the right starts on day one | 26 weeks’ continuous employment |
| Requests in 12 months | Two; one live at a time | One |
| Business-impact statement | Not required | Required |
| Decision timetable | Two months including appeal, unless extended by agreement | Meeting normally within 28 days; written decision within 14 days of meeting; process can take up to around 14 weeks |
| Tribunal claim window | Generally six months where relevant date is from 1 Oct 2026 | Normally three months; industrial tribunal |
| Week’s pay cap from 6 Apr 2026 | £751 | £783 |
If you work in Northern Ireland, use nidirect’s application guide and the Labour Relations Agency’s process guide rather than the Great Britain request template above. See also employment law in Northern Ireland.
Making the arrangement work
You are not legally required to solve the rota before asking. We recommend describing the pattern you want and how it would work. If your manager worries about Wednesday-afternoon cover, suggest a shared handover or staggered starts. A review after eight weeks could help you both judge whether the arrangement works.
Shared calendars show when colleagues are available. A clear rota and task board show who handles a client when someone works four days. Agree on response times and handovers, and decide which days need an office presence. Counting keystrokes tells a manager little about whether the work is done well. If monitoring is proposed, see workplace monitoring and home-working safety.
Flexible hours and location can make a role accessible to parents returning from maternity leave, carers, disabled employees and people easing into retirement. An employer may have more to gain from keeping an experienced colleague than from insisting everyone works the same schedule. That practical argument does not add a legal ground for accepting or refusing a request.
What is in force, and what comes next?
The day-one right, two-request limit, consultation duty and two-month decision period have been in force since 6 April 2024. The six-month Great Britain tribunal limit took effect on 1 October 2026 for claims with a relevant date on or after that day. Neither reform gave employees a right to have every request approved.
Questions people ask
Can I request flexible working from day one?
Yes, in Great Britain. You need no period of service; you can raise the question at offer stage for an arrangement that begins when you join. Northern Ireland still requires 26 weeks’ continuous employment.
Does my employer have to meet me before refusing?
They must consult you. A meeting is the usual way to discuss the request and alternatives, but the law requires consultation rather than one prescribed meeting format. A refusal without any consultation breaches the duty.
How many flexible working requests can I make a year?
In Great Britain, twice in any rolling 12 months, but not while another request is live. After a refusal, you can use a remaining slot, appeal if the employer offers one or ask informally. An appeal is not a fresh request.
Is an approved change permanent?
Usually. It changes the contract unless you agree a temporary arrangement or trial. Ask for the new terms, pay and holiday in writing; returning to your old hours later requires agreement.
On what grounds can an employer refuse flexible working?
Only one of eight statutory grounds, including extra cost, harm to customer demand, or being unable to reorganise the work or recruit. “It doesn’t suit the team” is not a ground. The employer must consult you first and rely on correct facts.
Do parents, carers or disabled people have extra rights?
The right to make a request is the same for eligible employees. But a refusal might also fall under indirect-discrimination law, or an employer’s duty to make reasonable adjustments for a disabled employee. Those claims need their own evidence.
Sources
- Employment Rights Act 1996, Part 8A (ss.80F-80I), legislation.gov.uk
- ERA 1996 s.47E. Protection against detriment, legislation.gov.uk
- ERA 1996 s.104C. Automatically unfair dismissal, legislation.gov.uk
- Flexible Working Regulations 2014 (S.I. 2014/1398), legislation.gov.uk
- Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 2025, s.9. Future refusal test, legislation.gov.uk
- ERA 2025 Sch.12. Claim time limits, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 5 and Transitional Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations 2026, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2026 (S.I. 2026/310), legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order (NI) 2026 (S.R. 2026/57), legislation.gov.uk
- Flexible Working Regulations (NI) 2015, legislation.gov.uk
- Equality Act 2010, legislation.gov.uk
- Code of Practice on requests for flexible working, Acas
- Flexible working and work-life balance, nidirect
- Flexible working advisory guide, Labour Relations Agency
- Employment Rights Act implementation roadmap, GOV.UK
- Consultation on improving access to flexible working: government response, GOV.UK
- Consultation on the draft Code of Practice on requests for flexible working (2026), Acas
- Flexible working consultation response: worker polling, TUC (TUC/Opinium poll, January 2026)