The rules around requesting and granting flexible working arrangements changed on 6 April 2024, when the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 came into effect.
Please note, this article is based on the Act and the Acas code of practice on requests for flexible working, which has been updated in line with the legislation. If your procedures are based on Acas' guidance from before 6 April 2024, you may need to update them.
The information in this article applies to statutory flexible working requests – read about the difference between statutory and non-statutory (informal) requests in our other article.
Old rule New rule Staff who have been employed at your school for 26 weeks have the right to make a statutory request for flexible working. All staff have the right to make a statutory flexible working request from day 1 of employment. Staff can make 1 flexible working request in a 12-month period. Staff can make 2 flexible working requests in a