Responding to the UK Government’s Flexible Working Consultation
Claire McCartney discusses our latest consultation response to the UK Government on Making Flexible Working the Default
Claire McCartney discusses our latest consultation response to the UK Government on Making Flexible Working the Default
The UK Government’s much anticipated consultation on Making Flexible Working the Default opened mid-September and has just closed on 1st December 2021. The CIPD put a comprehensive and evidence-backed response incorporating all our member feedback on this important issue.
We conducted a large online survey with YouGov of over 1,000 Senior HR and decision-makers in organisations and held a total of 6 regional focus groups in areas such as Scotland, Wales, Birmingham, Northern England and London to drill down further into the detail and logistical issues surrounding the consultation questions.
The consultation was launched following the Conservative Party’s commitment to look at making flexible working the default in their 2019 manifesto. Currently, employees need to have been with their employer for at least 26 weeks before they can make a flexible working request and they are limited to one request every 12 months.
The consultation sets out five proposals for reshaping the existing regulatory framework so that it better supports the objective of making flexible working the default. The intention is to better support employees to start the conversation about contract changes, and employers to respond. The five areas covered are:
The majority (57%) of employers agree that the right to request flexible working should be a day-one right. Agreement is highest from those in the public sector (69%) compared to those in the private sector (54%). In addition, larger organisations of 250+ employees were more likely to agree than SMEs (62% compared to 51%).
In the consultation response, the CIPD reiterates its call for flexible working requests to be a day-one right, as well as having a more flexible system which allows employees to make up to two requests in a year. It also calls for the timeframe for organisations to respond to flexible working requests to be shortened from within three months to within one month.
Since January 2021, the CIPD has been campaigning through our #FlexFrom1st work to encourage organisations and the UK Government to make the change to a day-one right to request flexible working. We think this change will help to support greater fairness and open up opportunities more widely.
For a full copy of the CIPD’s consultation response on Making Flexible Working the Default, including comprehensive survey data and qualitative information from regional focus groups, see CIPD consultation response.
For further information about the CIPD’s Flexible Working resources, see Resources. You can also read Ben Willmott’s CIPD Voice article on the topic here.
Claire specialises in the areas of equality, diversity and inclusion, flexible working, resourcing and talent management. She has also conducted research into meaning and trust at work, age diversity, workplace carers and enterprise and has worked on a number of international projects. She is the author of several reports and articles and regularly presents at seminars and conferences.
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