Handling Flexible Working Requests Under Current UK Employment Law

Since flexible working became a Day One right under UK law, one wrong move in handling a request can expose your business to an employment tribunal claim. Most employers understand they have to take these requests seriously. Far fewer understand exactly what that means in practice — and what it costs them when they get it wrong.

This guide walks you through the complete evaluation process: how to assess every statutory flexible working request fairly, how to refuse one lawfully when you need to, and how to build a process that protects your business at every stage.

The New Reality of Day One Flexible Working

Before the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023, employees had to wait 26 weeks before making a flexible working request. That waiting period is gone. From day one of employment, every employee has the statutory right to request flexible working — and to have that request properly considered.

The practical implications for employers are significant. Your HR processes, your line manager training, and your decision-making frameworks all need to reflect this reality from the moment an employee starts. A new joiner can submit a request on their first week. How your business responds to that request is now a compliance question from day one.

Setting Up Your Internal Review Process

Every flexible working request must be handled through a consistent, documented process. The legal requirements are clear:

Acknowledge the request in writing promptly after receiving it

Consult with the employee — this is mandatory. You cannot simply assess the request in isolation and issue a decision. You must meet with the employee to discuss it, explore alternative arrangements, and give them the opportunity to respond

Make a decision within two months of receiving the request — including any appeal

Provide written reasons if the request is refused or modified

The consultation meeting is the step most employers shortcut — and the one that most frequently appears in tribunal claims. Before any decision is made, you must have genuinely explored whether a different arrangement could work. Document everything discussed.

The Eight Statutory Grounds for Refusal

You are not required to agree to every flexible working request. But you can only refuse one on specific statutory grounds set out in the Employment Rights Act. These are:

The burden of additional costs to the business

A detrimental effect on the ability to meet customer demand

An inability to reorganise work among existing staff

An inability to recruit additional staff to cover

A detrimental impact on quality of work or service

A detrimental impact on performance

Insufficiency of work during the periods the employee proposes to work

Planned structural changes to the business

The key word is detrimental — not inconvenient. Your refusal must be grounded in a genuine, documented operational impact, not a preference for the existing arrangement. Vague assertions that the request “doesn’t suit the business” will not withstand tribunal scrutiny.

“We assumed we could refuse on the grounds of team cohesion,” one operations manager told an employment law firm after a successful claim against their business. “The tribunal found no specific operational impact was documented. The refusal was unlawful.”

Testing and Documenting Your Business Case

Before refusing or modifying a request, work through these questions in writing:

What specific operational function would be impaired by this arrangement?

Have you explored whether the arrangement could work on a trial basis?

Could reorganisation of existing workload or schedules accommodate the request?

Would the impact be temporary and manageable, or ongoing and significant?

Does refusing this request put you at risk of indirect discrimination? (For example, refusing a part-time request that disproportionately impacts women, or refusing an arrangement needed as a reasonable adjustment for a disability)

Every answer should be documented before the decision is communicated. Your written decision must name the specific statutory ground and explain how it applies to this case — not just reference the category.

Delivering the Decision and Managing Appeals

If you are refusing or modifying a request, the written decision must:

State the statutory ground relied upon

Explain how that ground applies to the specific request

Confirm the employee’s right of appeal

Be issued within the two-month decision period

If the employee appeals, the appeal must be heard by a manager who was not involved in the original decision. The appeal process must be completed within the two-month window that began when the request was first submitted.

A well-managed appeal process resolves the vast majority of disagreements before they escalate to ACAS or tribunal. A rubber-stamp appeal — where the same rationale is repeated by a different manager — has no legal value and signals bad faith.

Long-Term Compliance and Manager Training

The businesses that handle flexible working requests most successfully treat them as a process, not a one-off decision. Practical steps:

Implement trial periods where possible — a three to six month trial allows both parties to assess whether the arrangement works in practice before a permanent decision is made

Schedule regular review check-ins for all flexible working arrangements — documented and consistent across the workforce

Train line managers on the eight statutory grounds, the consultation requirement, and the indirect discrimination risks of inconsistent enforcement

Audit your decisions across the workforce — if flexible working is being granted to some employees and refused to others in comparable roles, you need to understand and document why