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Unions and campaigners say government “must go further” on flexible working rights

Issue date
  • New legislation does not go far enough, say groups
  • Government must deliver manifesto commitments to ‘’unlock’’ flexible working
  • Flexible working is “good for working people, good for employers and good for the economy”

After the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill was given Royal Assent yesterday and became law, unions, rights groups, and women’s organisations have come together to call on the government to go further and deliver on its manifesto commitments to unlock flexible working.

The legislation will strengthen employee rights to flexible working, while the government has also committed to bring in a day one right to request flexible working for employees.

But the TUC and other campaigners say this does not go far enough. A right to request is not a legal right to work flexibly from day one in the job and means many flexible working requests can and will be rejected by employers.

Joint statement with unions and campaigners

In a joint statement published today, signatories including the TUC, Fawcett Society, Women’s Budget Group and Timewise, among others, warn the legislation does not go far enough:

‘’Whilst this is an important step, the government must go further.’

‘’Mums, dads, disabled people (including those with Long Covid), carers and older workers are just some of the groups that we know are more likely to need flexibility to get into work, stay and progress. And flexible working is important for everyone to achieve better work life balance and make time for life outside work.’’

“But even with the new legislation, those who need flexibility to work will be forced to ask what arrangements are available in the recruitment process. We know many applicants don’t mention flexible working due to justified fears of discrimination or rejection.’’

TUC General Secretary, Paul Nowak said:

“Flexible working should be a day one right that’s available to everyone.

“But under these new plans, it does not go far enough.

“The government must deliver on their manifesto commitments and change the law so workers have the legal right to work flexibly from the first day in the job.

“Not all jobs can support every kind of flexible working – but all jobs can support some kind of flexible working. And all job adverts should make clear what kind of flexibility is available.”

Government action needed

The union body is calling for the government to:

  • Unlock the flexibility in all jobs. Every job can be worked flexibly. There are a range of hours-based and location-based flexibilities to choose from – and there is a flexible option that will work for every type of job. Employers should think upfront about the flexible working options that are available in a role, publish these in all job adverts and give successful applicants a day one right to take up any of those options.
  • Make flexible working a genuine legal right from the first day in a job. People should have the right to work flexibly from day one, unless the employer can properly justify why this is not possible. Workers should have the right to appeal any rejections. And there shouldn’t be a limit on how many times workers can ask for flexible working arrangements in a year.
Editors note

Notes to editors:

  • Joint statement on Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act

The Employment Relations Bill (Flexible Working) Bill yesterday reached royal assent. More than twenty organisations have come together to welcome the Act and call for further action.

After years of campaigning for stronger rights to flexible working, we welcome today’s announcement that the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill has reached royal assent and thank Yasmin Qureshi MP and Baroness Taylor of Bolton for sponsoring the legislation.

Most importantly we want to thank the thousands of people who fought tirelessly to raise awareness of the importance of flexible working for everyone. Your actions got us here.

The Act will strengthen the rights that employees have when requesting flexible working and the government have committed to introducing a day one right to request flexible working for all employees alongside the Act.

Whilst this is an important step, the government must go further to create inclusive and flexible work for everyone.

Mums, dads, disabled people (including those with Long Covid), carers and older workers are just some of the groups that we know are more likely to need flexibility to get into work, stay and progress. And flexible working is important for everyone to achieve better work life balance and make time for life outside work.

But even with the new legislation, those who need flexibility to work will be forced to ask what arrangements are available in the recruitment process. We know many applicants don’t mention flexible working due to justified fears of discrimination or rejection – new TUC polling shows that half of new dads and partners entitled to paternity leave didn’t get any or all of the flexibility they requested from their employer. A day one right to request flexible working will not fix this and does not require employers to think about how to design flexibility into their roles.

To truly meet their manifesto commitment to make flexible working the default, the government must require employers to include all possible flexible working options in job adverts. This is a small, simple change that would make a huge difference to working people and mean they know before they apply if a job works for them and underlines an employer's commitment to make flexible working work for everyone.

Six in ten HR managers polled by the TUC said it would be easy to include specific information about the flexibility in location or hours available in each role in each job advert, or they already do this. Making this good-practice mandatory would make a day one right to flexible working a reality for many.

Unlocking flexibility for all would help to tackle labour shortages, retain people who need flexibility to work, reduce inequalities and improve progression opportunities.   Making flexibility the default from day one would be good for working people, good for employers and good for the economy.

Signatories:

  • Paul Nowak, General Secretary, TUC
  • Jemima Olchawski, CEO, Fawcett Society
  • Kamran Mallick, CEO, Disability Rights UK
  • Anna Whitehouse, CEO and Founder, Mother Pukka
  • Elliott Rae, MusicFootballFatherhood
  • Victoria Benson, CEO, Gingerbread
  • Adrienne Burgess and Kathy Jones, Joint CEOs, Fatherhood Institute
  • Svetlana Kotova, Director of Campaigns and Justice, Inclusion London
  • Taryn Robinson, Pregnant Then Screwed
  • Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson, Director, UK Women's Budget Group
  • Charlotte Woodworth, Director Gender Equality, Business in the Community
  • Jo Dainow, Chair of Trustees, Long Covid Support
  • Claire Reindorp, CEO, Young Women’s Trust
  • Priya Sahni-Nicholas and Jo Wittams, Co-Executive Directors, The Equality Trust
  • Ros Bragg, Director, Maternity Action
  • Ellen Clifford, National Steering Group Member, Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC)
  • James Taylor, Executive Director, Strategy, Impact and Social Change, Scope
  • Justine Roberts CBE, Founder and CEO, Mumsnet
  • Catherine Hale, Head of Astriid Consulting
  • Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director, Age UK
  • Abi Levitt, Interim CEO, Timewise.
     
  • Shared paternal leave polling: TUC polling found that half of dads and those entitled to paternity leave didn’t get any or all of the flexible working they asked for. The polling was carried out for the TUC by Opinium. They surveyed 2,006 parents of children under six-years-old asking about flexible working requests of the parent entitled to paternity leave, between 3-6 February 2023. To be entitled to paternity leave individuals must be taking time off to look after the child and be one of the following: the father, the husband or partner of the mother or adoptive parent – this includes same-sex partners, adoptive parents or the intended parent (if you’re having a baby through a surrogacy arrangement) and they must be an employee, give the correct notice and have been continuously employed by their employer for at least 26 weeks up to any day in the ‘qualifying week’. For more information, please contact research@opinium.co.uk
  • Women and flexible work: TUC analysis published in December 2022 showed that women are much more likely than men to find themselves in flexible work arrangements that lose them hours and pay: https://www.tuc.org.uk/news/tuc-women-much-more-likely-men-have-flexible-work-arrangements-lead-loss-hours-and-pay
  • Difficulty getting access to flexible working: 13,000 mums responded to a TUC and Mother Pukka survey which revealed that half of working mums don’t get the flexibility they request at work.
  • Caring responsibilities: TUC analysis published in March found women are around seven times more likely than men to be out of the labour market due to caring commitments: https://www.tuc.org.uk/news/women-7-times-more-likely-men-be-out-work-due-caring-commitments
  • Easy for employers: TUC polling of HR managers shows an advertising duty would be easy to implement. Six in 10 HR managers said either that it would be easy to include specific information about the types of hours-based flexibility or pattern of home or remote working available in each job advert, or that they already do this. https://www.tuc.org.uk/news/tuc-poll-seven-10-hr-managers-support-greater-flexible-working-their-workplac
  • Disabled workers: TUC polling of disabled workers showed that 9 in 10 disabled workers wanted to continue working from home for at least some of the time after the pandemic. https://www.tuc.org.uk/news/nine-10-disabled-workers-want-continue-working-home-after-pandemic-tuc-poll#:~:text=The%20TUC%20is%20calling%20for,job%20can%20be%20worked%20flexibly.
  • Economic benefits: research commissioned by Mother Pukka found that increasing rates of flexible working by 50% could unlock £55 billion to the UK economy. https://www.motherpukka.co.uk/flexonomics/
  • Employment Relations Act (Flexible Working): The Act removes the requirement on the employee to explain what effect, if any, the flexible working request would have on the organisation and how it could be dealt with. It will allow employees to make two statutory requests within a 12-month period (an increase from one currently). It reduces the maximum time that employers have to respond to a flexible working request from three months to two months, and it introduces a requirement on employer to consult with the employee before rejecting a flexible working request. The government have also committed to introduce a day one right to request flexible working for employees via secondary legislation.
  • About the TUC: The Trades Union Congress (TUC) exists to make the working world a better place for everyone. We bring together the 5.5 million working people who make up our 48 member unions. We support unions to grow and thrive, and we stand up for everyone who works for a living.

Contacts:

TUC press office 
media@tuc.org.uk  
020 7467 1248 

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