Q&A for Business Insider’s ‘Staff Matters’, March Issue by Lucie Biddick

Q. An employee with 4.5 months service has requested 'flexible working'. Am I legally entitled to say no?  
A. Yes, you are legally entitled to say 'no' on the grounds of eligibility, as the employee must have at least 26 weeks' continuous employment with your company. Even if the employee has been with you for 26 weeks' or more, he/she cannot make a request if they are an agency worker and if they have made another application to work flexibly during the previous twelve months.  

You are also entitled to refuse a request on 'prescribed' procedural grounds such as the burden of additional costs or a detrimental impact on quality and performance. However, it is worth remembering that there are benefits to accepting a request for flexible working, including increased productivity as well as a proven reduction in sickness absence and increase in staff retention. 

Although anyone can informally ask their employer for flexible work arrangements, the government introduced a statutory right to request flexible working because more people work while looking after children or elderly relatives. An employee who has worked for their employer for 26 weeks continuously has the statutory right to request flexible working if he/she has a child under six or a disabled child under 18; is responsible for the child as a parent/guardian/foster parent AND are applying for flexible work arrangements in order to care for a child or a person aged eighteen or over who is in need of care.

Q. I have a 3 year old child and need to work more flexibly to care for him. What am I legally entitled to request? 
A. If you meet the eligibility criteria, you have the right to request a change to the hours you work; a change to the times you are required to work; or even a change to the location from which you work.  You'll also have to be the child's mother/father, adoptive parent, guardian or foster parent; or the spouse, civil partner, partner of the child's mother, father, adopter, guardian or foster parent. You must also have (or expect to have) responsibility for the child's upbringing or be making the application in order to care for the child.