This Act will make a number of changes to the right to request flexible working:

• Employees will be entitled to make two requests (changed from one) in any twelve month period
• Employers will have to respond to a request within two months (changed from three)

The Government, after passing this Act, stated that it was committed to making the right to request flexible working a “day one right” and this would be implemented through secondary legislation.

The Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023 were laid before Parliament on 11th December 2023 and come into force on 6th April 2024.

These regulations remove regulation 3 of the Flexible Working Regulations 2014 which requires an employee to have been continuously employed for a period of at least 26 weeks to be entitled to make a flexible working request. This means on or after 6th April, no service will be required in order to make a flexible working request.

Draft regulations proposed to extend redundancy protections during pregnancy and after maternity, adoption or shared parental leave from 6th April 2024

The Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023 came into force on 24th July 2023.

These regulations contained a power for additional regulations to be made to extend the current right to be offered suitable alternative vacancies in a redundancy situation. This applied to employees on maternity, adoption or shared parental leave (referred to as “the relevant leave”).

The draft Maternity Leave, Adoption Leave and Shared Parental Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024 were laid before Parliament on 11th December 2023. If these are made, they will extend redundancy protection during pregnancy and for the period of 18 months after the birth or placement of a child for those taking maternity, adoption or shared parental leave.

If these regulations pass, then the following additional redundancy protections will apply:

(“additional protected period” = the period of protection after returning to work from relevant leave)

• Pregnancy – Redundancy protection will start when an employee tells their employer about their pregnancy. If the employee is entitled to statutory maternity leave, the protected period of pregnancy will end on the day the statutory maternity leave starts. If the pregnancy ends and they are not entitled to statutory maternity leave, the protected period ends two weeks after the end of pregnancy.
• Maternity leave – The additional protected period will end 18 months after the expected week of childbirth, unless the employee has informed the employer of the date of their child’s birth, in which case the additional protected period will end 18 months after that date.
• Adoption leave – The additional protected period ends 18 months after the child’s placement or the date they enter Great Britain (in the case of overseas adoptions).
• Shared parental leave – For those taking six or more consecutive weeks of shared parental leave, but who have not taken maternity or adoption leave, the additional protected period ends 18 months after the date of the child’s birth or placement (or date they enter Great Britain).

The new rules would apply on and after 6th April 2024.

New statutory entitlement to unpaid carer’s leave to come into force 6th April 2024.

The draft Carer’s Leave Regulations 2024 have been laid before Parliament and will introduce a new statutory right to unpaid carer’s leave for employees from 6th April 2024.

The regulations provide that an employee who has a dependant with a long-term care need (as defined in section 80J(2) of the Employment Rights Act 1996) may take one week’s unpaid leave to provide or arrange care in each rolling 12-month period.

The leave may be taken up to a block of one week in either:

• Individual days, or
• Half days.

The required notice period is either, whichever is the greater,

• Twice as many days as the period of leave required, or
• Three days.

The notice does not need to be in writing and an employer cannot require evidence in relation to the request before granting the leave. An employer may waive the notice requirement where the other requirements of the regulations have been met.

An employer cannot decline a request in its’ entirety, but may postpone carer’s leave where all of the following apply:

• They reasonably consider that the operation of the business would be unduly disrupted if it allowed the leave during the requested period.
• They allow the employee to take a period of carer’s leave of the same duration, within a month of the period initially requested.
• They give the employee a written notice within seven days of the initial request, setting out the reason for the postponement and the agreed dates on which the leave can be taken.
• During the period of carer’s leave, an employee is entitled to the benefit of all their terms and conditions, apart from the right to remuneration, and will remain subject to all of their usual obligations.

When an employee has a contractual right to take carer’s leave, they will only be permitted to take the entitlement which is more favourable. They will still, however, be protected under the statutory scheme for carer’s leave.

Similar to other types of statutory leave, the employee is protected if they are subject to dismissal or detrimental treatment following taking or requesting carer’s leave.

If you require any advice on how to comply with the above changes, please do not hesitate to contact a member of our team.