The government has published its response to the Make Work Pay: improving access to flexible working consultation confirming that it will proceed with reforms to flexible working under the Employment Rights Act 2025. The changes are intended to make it more likely that reasonable and feasible requests for flexible working are accepted, while preserving employers’ ability to refuse requests where there are genuine operational reasons.
Benefits of flexible working
The response recognises the benefits of flexible working for both sides of the employment relationship. For employees, flexibility can improve wellbeing, support caring responsibilities, help disabled people remain in work and enable more people to enter, stay in and progress through the labour market. For employers, it can widen recruitment pools, improve retention and support workforce participation. However, consultation evidence indicated that requests are not handled consistently and can sometimes be rejected without meaningful discussion, adequate explanation or consideration of alternatives.
Proposals for reform
The central reform is a new statutory process that employers will have to follow when they are considering rejecting a flexible working request. Employers will be expected to engage constructively with the employee, discuss the difficulties created by the proposed arrangement and explore whether those difficulties can be overcome. Where the original request cannot be accepted, the discussion should consider alternative forms of flexibility or modified arrangements. The process is intended to be light-touch and proportionate, but more structured than the present framework.
Refusing a request
If the employer ultimately refuses the request, it must explain why the refusal is reasonable. The explanation must identify one or more of the existing statutory business grounds and set out the factual basis for relying on them in the particular circumstances. The eight grounds - such as additional costs, detrimental effects on customer demand, inability to reorganise work, recruitment difficulties, impacts on quality or performance, insufficient work and planned structural changes - will remain available.
The reforms will not create an automatic right to work from home or require employers to approve every request. The government accepts that flexibility is not practicable in every role or workplace. Nevertheless, employers will need to demonstrate that requests have been seriously considered rather than relying on blanket assumptions or unsupported refusals.
Implementation
The government intends the changes to take effect in 2027 through secondary legislation. Acas is expected to revise its Code of Practice and provide further guidance on the meaning of reasonableness, following additional consultation. In practical terms, employers will need to review their policies, train managers, improve record-keeping and ensure decision-makers assess each request individually, consult properly and give clear, evidence-based reasons for any refusal.
