Your right to Flexible Working

Flexible working can allow employees to manage both their work and caring responsibilities. The Work and Families Act 2006 (The Work and Families (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 in Northern Ireland) gives carers the right to request request changes to their working patterns to better manage their caring.

Examples of flexible working

Job sharing. Usually two employees share the work normally done by one person.
Part time working. Employees might work shorter days or fewer days in a week.
Term-time working. Employees don’t work during school holidays and either take paid or unpaid leave or their salary is calculated pro-rata over the whole year.
Shift-swapping or self-rostering. Employees agree shifts among themselves and negotiate with colleagues when they need time off with the process being overseen by managers.
Staggered hours. Employees have various starting and finishing times meaning that goods and services are available outside traditional working hours.
Compressed hours. Employees work their total hours over fewer working days eg a ten day fortnight is compressed into a nine day fortnight.
Annualised hours. Employees’ hours are calculated over a whole year and then split into ‘fixed shifts’ and ‘reserve shifts’ which can be agreed on a more flexible basis.

Who has the right to request flexible working?

You have the right to request flexible working if you are an employee with 26 weeks continuous employment at the date you make an application, and you are:

a parent with a child(ren) under 17 or a disabled* child(ren) under 18. Your child must be getting Disability Living Allowance if aged 17.
a carer – to qualify as a carer under the legislation, you must be, or expect to be, caring for a spouse, partner (who you live with), civil partner or relative, or live at the same address as the adult in need of care. ‘Relative’ includes parents, parent-in-law, adult child, adopted adult child, siblings (including those who are in-laws), uncles, aunts or grandparents and step-relatives.

How do I make a request?

The law gives you the right to make one application a year for flexible working. However, your employer may be sympathetic if you find your circumstances have changed and you need to make a further application.

The request to work flexibly must be made in writing and dated and should include:

confirmation that you are eligible, ie that you are a carer
an outline of the working pattern you would like
an explanation of the effect, if any, you think the proposed change might have on your job and, how you think this could be dealt with
the date on which you would like the proposed change to start
whether you have made a previous request and, if so, the date of that request.

Your employer may have a standard form for you to use or you could download our booklet ‘A guide to the right to request flexible working’, which contains an application form and a section called ‘Guidance for employers’, which we suggest you give to your employer as part of your application.

What evidence of caring is required?

You are not required to prove the caring relationship but it may help your application to give as much information as possible.
‘Caring’ in this context includes not just personal care but also, for example, emotional support, keeping the cared for person company, helping with financial matters or paperwork, escorting them to medical appointments.

When can I make a request?

You can make a request at any time as long as you meet all the eligibility criteria. It is best to make the request as soon as possible as the application process can be lengthy.

Can my employer refuse my request?

Your employer can only refuse your request if they have good business reasons for it. It is important to consider the needs of your company when you make your request, and to include as much information as you can about how your proposed change will help the business as well as you, or how you can deal with any possible negative impact you think your employer may be concerned about.

Business grounds on which your employer can refuse your application are: burden of additional costs; detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand; inability to reorganise work amongst existing staff; inability to recruit additional staff; detrimental impact on quality; detrimental impact on performance; insufficiency of work during the periods the employee proposes to work; planned structural changes.

If the request is rejected you can appeal in writing within 14 days of notification. You may be able to take further action if your appeal is unsuccessful provided that you feel that the process was not followed correctly; proper consideration was not given to (some of) the facts of your case; you have been discriminated against in some way. If this is the case, seek legal advice.

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