Employment Rights Act 2025: consultation on changes to flexible working requests

A chance for employers to have their say on new flexible working request consultation process.

The Government has launched a consultation on proposed changes to the current process for handling flexible working requests set to come in next year.

The stated aims of the changes are to bring more fairness and consistency to the way employers respond to such requests and to make it more likely that flexible working requests will be accepted. The Government hopes to bring greater clarity to the expectations on employers dealing with flexible working requests without creating unnecessary additional burdens on them.

The Government is keen to see a more collaborative approach between employers and employees, shifting expectations towards accepting requests which can be reasonably met. The proposals encourage a process of discussion leading to creative solutions which work for both employers and employees, with the focus being on what is possible rather than what is not possible.

Under the proposals, employers would still be able to refuse a request when it is not reasonable to accept it, and would still have to refer to one of the eight business reasons for refusing. However, there will be an additional requirement to explain the rationale for refusing a request with rights to bring a claim where employees consider this requirement has not been met.

The new reasonableness test

Employers are already obliged to deal with flexible working requests reasonably. This obligation is focused on following a reasonable process which is in line with the Acas Code of Practice on requests for flexible working.

From 2027 employers refusing a request will also be required to explain to the employee which of the current 8 statutory business reasons applies and why the refusal of the request is reasonable.

Currently, employees can only challenge a flexible working decision if they consider that it has not been handled reasonably. Under the new rules, employees will also be able to bring a claim in the Employment Tribunal if they consider their employer has unreasonably rejected their request. The Tribunal will be able to require the employer to reconsider their decision and may award compensation of up to 8 weeks’ pay (with the statutory cap on weekly pay applied). This is in line with the current maximum award for failing to handle a flexible working request reasonably.

Acas will consult separately on changing its Code of Practice on flexible working requests to include new guidance for employers on this new reasonableness test.

Suggested process when employer is considering rejecting a flexible working request

The Government is proposing a new consultation process which employers must follow if they are considering refusing a statutory flexible working request. It aims to encourage the exploration of viable solutions and trials of flexible arrangements.

The suggested process is as follows:

1. Arrange a consultation meeting

   1. Meet with the employee to consider ways to address challenges with the requested arrangement and explore whether a suitable alternative arrangement could be agreed.

   2. This meeting must be held without unreasonable delay and within the two-month period for making a decision (we may see a required timeframe being set for holding this meeting following the Government consultation).

   3. The employee must be informed about the context of the meeting in advance to allow them to prepare for it (requirements for the amount of notice need for this meeting may be set once the process is finalised).

   4. A person with the authority to make a decision about flexible working arrangements (the decision-maker) must attend the meeting. This could be the employee’s line manager.

   5. The decision maker will be required to keep a record of the discussion during the meeting.

2. During the meeting

   1. The meeting must allow for sufficient discussion of the request and any potential alternatives.

   2. The decision-maker must clarify whether the employee would like the proposed request to be considered as a reasonable adjustment in accordance with the Equality Act 2010.

   3. The decision-maker must clearly communicate any challenges they identify with the original request. They must explain why they feel that it would not be feasible to accommodate the request, or why the request is not reasonable, referring to the relevant business reason(s).

   4. The decision-maker must consider whether there might be ways to navigate these challenges and accommodate the request.

   5. If the potential impacts of a new arrangement are unclear, an employer and employee could choose to trial it for a fixed period of time.

3. Exploring alternatives

   1. If the original request cannot be feasibly accommodated, the employer and employee must consider whether there are feasible alternative arrangement(s).

   2. Employers can only reject proposed alternative arrangements where one of the 8 statutory business reasons applies.

   3. Employers must record the outcome of this discussion and communicate this with the employee.

4. Written outcomes: employers must provide written notification of both:

   1. The outcome of the meeting: a summary of what was discussed and any conclusions or next steps agreed during the meeting between the employer and employee about the flexible working request (for example, whether alternative arrangements were explored, or if a trial period was agreed); and

   2. The outcome of the request: the final decision made by the employer about the flexible working request (for example, whether the request was approved, rejected, or if an alternative arrangement was formally agreed).

How could these changes impact on employers?

Although these new proposals do not create a right to flexible working arrangements, they may well nudge employers to be more open to flexible working requests and to explore creative alternative solutions.

However, the process of dealing with flexible working requests is likely to be more burdensome for employers.

In particular, a requirement to provide an explanation of why it is not reasonable to accept both the original request and any alternative arrangements put forward by the employee as part of the consultation could add significantly to the time and resource needed to consider and respond to the request, and may lead to requests for multiple trial periods for different alternative arrangements.

Employers will need to ensure that they have clear, workable processes in place to deal with requests in a timely way in order to meet these additional requirements within the two-month timeframe for making the decision (unless a longer period can be agreed with the employee).

No doubt there will be concern from both employers and employees about how already stretched employment tribunals will deal with claims about the reasonableness of decisions on flexible working requests within a timeframe which has a meaningful impact on working lives and practices.   

Employers should consider engaging with the current consultation in order to feed in their views on the new proposals. The consultation is open until 30 April 2026 and can be accessed at Make Work Pay: consultation on improving access to flexible working.

If you would like to discuss any aspect of this article further, please contact our Employment team on 0113 244 6100. 

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The information in this article is necessarily of a general nature. The law stated is correct at the date (stated above) this article was first posted to our website.

Specific advice should be sought for specific situations. If you have any queries or need any legal advice, please feel free to contact Wrigleys Solicitors.