Every summer, the requests start coming in.
“Can I work from home on Fridays while the kids are off?”
“Would it be okay to shift my start time for six weeks?”
“I was thinking about dropping Wednesdays during the holidays…”
It’s tempting to say yes without thinking it through. Many business owners also say no without realising that they might not be on solid ground.
Either way, it’s worth knowing where you actually stand.
How the rules have changed
Since April 2024, flexible working has been a day one right.
Your employees don’t need to have worked for you for six months before they can ask. They can ask from the very first day.
They’re allowed to make two requests per year. You have to respond within two months. And you can only refuse on one of eight statutory grounds.
From October 2026, it gets tighter still.
The Employment Rights Act is adding a reasonableness test on top of those grounds. Citing a reason won’t be enough on its own. You’ll need to show it was actually reasonable to refuse in your specific situation.
So, what are the eight grounds?
You can refuse a flexible working request if it would cause any one of these:
- Burden of additional costs
- Detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand
- Inability to reorganise work among existing staff
- Inability to recruit additional staff
- Detrimental impact on quality
- Detrimental impact on performance
- Insufficiency of work during the proposed hours
- Planned structural changes
If the request genuinely creates a problem under one of those headings, you can say no.
What you can’t do is refuse because it feels inconvenient or because you’d rather not deal with it.
You need a real reason and, from October, you’ll need to show it was reasonable to act on that reason.
How to handle the requests when they come in
Consider each request individually:
There’s no such thing as a blanket summer policy that holds up legally. Each one needs its own thought and a written decision within two months.
Be consistent:
If you’ve said yes to someone in a similar role before, saying no to someone else needs a clear justification behind it.
Before you refuse, explore alternatives:
Could it work on a trial basis for a few weeks? Could the hours be adjusted slightly to make it more workable?
Having that conversation shows good faith and reduces your exposure if the decision is ever questioned.
If you do refuse…
Write down which statutory ground applies and why it applies in this specific case. That record is what you’ll rely on if it ever comes back around.
Get your policies and processes watertight now
Getting flexible working right requires a clear policy, a consistent process and documented decisions that hold up if they’re challenged.
An HR consultant can help you to build that before the summer requests arrive, advise on specific requests you’re unsure about and make sure that you’re ready for the changes coming in October.
We’d be happy to talk you through it. Get in touch if you’d like help.