A Jamie HR manager's guide

The manager's guide to flexible working requests

A practical guide for managers and small businesses on handling flexible and hybrid working requests: the day-one statutory right, the two-month process, the eight business reasons for refusal, and the reasonableness test coming in 2027.
Day-one right
2-month process
2027 law change

Every employee can ask for flexible working from their first day.

A request to change hours, working times or place of work, including a request to work hybrid or remote, follows the same statutory process. This guide sets out what the law requires now, the eight reasons a request can be refused, what changes under the Employment Rights Act 2025, and the practical steps to take when a request lands on your desk.

What's inside
The right to request flexible working3
What a request can cover4
Making a statutory request5
The two-month process6
Consult before you refuse7
The eight business reasons8
What changes in 20279
If a request is refused or mishandled10
Handling a request well now11
Getting flexible working right12
How Jamie HR helps13

The right to request flexible working

Flexible working is a statutory right for employees, available from the first day of a job.
  • Anyone with the legal status of employee has the statutory right to request flexible working.
  • The right applies from the first day of employment.
  • Before 6 April 2024, an employee needed 26 weeks' continuous service before making a request; that qualifying period was removed by the Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023, with effect from 6 April 2024.
  • The day-one right itself was brought into force by section 1 of the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023, commenced from 6 April 2024.
Manager tip
Treat any request that mentions hours, times or location as a possible statutory request, and confirm with the employee whether they want it handled as one.

What a request can cover

The law defines a statutory request broadly, and it covers hybrid and remote working.
  • A statutory request is a request to change the terms and conditions relating to an employee's hours, times or place of work.
  • This covers changes such as part-time hours, compressed hours, staggered start times, and working from a different location.
  • Hybrid working, splitting time between the workplace and working remotely such as from home, falls within a request to change place of work.
  • A request for home or hybrid working can be made informally, or as a statutory request if the employee wants the formal process and its timescales to apply.

Making a statutory request

The law sets out how many requests an employee can make and what a valid request must say.
  • An employee can make a maximum of two statutory flexible working requests in any 12-month period.
  • A statutory request must be made in writing and state that it is a statutory request for flexible working.
  • It must include the date of the request, the change being requested, when the employee wants the change to start, and details of any previous statutory requests and their dates.
  • An employee cannot have two statutory requests open with the same employer at the same time.
Manager tip
Ask the employee to confirm in writing that a request is a statutory request, so both of you are clear which timescales and process apply.

The two-month process

The law sets a maximum time to decide a request, including any appeal.
  • All requests, including any appeal, must be decided and communicated to the employee within two months of the employer first receiving the request.
  • Before 6 April 2024 the maximum decision period was three months; the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 reduced it to two months.
  • The employer and employee can agree to extend the two-month period.
  • There is no statutory right of appeal against a decision, but the ACAS Code of Practice treats offering one as good practice.
Watch out
Letting the two-month period run out without a decision, and without an agreed extension, breaches the statutory process and can found an employment tribunal complaint.

Consult before you refuse

You must not turn down a request without consulting the employee first.
  • The ACAS Code of Practice requires employers not to reject a request without first consulting the employee.
  • Hold the consultation meeting without unreasonable delay, giving the employee reasonable notice of the date and format.
  • Discuss the request properly: the possible benefits and impacts, and whether a modified version or an alternative arrangement could work.
  • Make sure whoever holds the meeting has enough authority to decide the outcome.
  • ACAS guidance treats allowing the employee to be accompanied by a colleague or trade union representative as good practice.
Manager tip
Keep a written note of the consultation meeting and the reasons discussed. It is the record a later decision, or an appeal, relies on.

The eight business reasons

A request can only be refused for one of eight reasons specified in the statutory framework.
  • Extra costs to the business.
  • An inability to reorganise work among existing staff, or to recruit additional staff.
  • A detrimental effect on quality or on performance.
  • A detrimental effect on the ability to meet customer demand.
  • Insufficient work available for the periods the employee proposes to work, or planned structural changes to the business.
  • These eight reasons are the only grounds available; there is no separate, open-ended 'good business reason' test.
Watch out
A refusal that does not fit one of the eight reasons, or that has not been consulted on first, is open to challenge. Take advice before relying on it.

What changes in 2027

The Employment Rights Act 2025 adds a reasonableness requirement to how refusals must be explained.
  • Under the Employment Rights Act 2025, an employer refusing a request will need to state which of the eight business reasons applies and explain why it is reasonable to rely on it.
  • This change is expected in 2027, exact date not yet confirmed.
  • The government ran a consultation between 5 February and 30 April 2026 on a proposed light-touch process for consulting employees where a request cannot be agreed immediately.
  • The reform does not create a right to flexible working. It strengthens the explanation an employer must give when refusing, within the same eight business reasons.
Manager tip
Start recording the specific evidence behind any refusal now, such as the actual costs, staffing gap or customer impact, so a reasoned explanation is ready once this duty takes effect.

If a request is refused or mishandled

An employee has routes open to them if a request is turned down or the process is not followed.
  • ACAS guidance treats offering a right of appeal as good practice, even though there is no statutory right of appeal.
  • If an employer does not handle a request in a reasonable manner, the employee can take the matter to an employment tribunal.
  • A tribunal that upholds a complaint can make a declaration, order the employer to reconsider the request, and award compensation up to a maximum set by regulations.
  • An employee can also complain about a decision based on incorrect facts.

Handling a request well now

Steps to follow for every request while the current process applies.
  • Acknowledge the request promptly and confirm whether it is being treated as a statutory request.
  • Arrange the consultation meeting without unreasonable delay, and confirm the format and who will attend.
  • Assess the request against the eight specified business reasons only, using real information such as costs, staffing and customer demand.
  • Where the request cannot be agreed as it stands, explore a modified version or a trial period before refusing outright.
  • Confirm the decision in writing, with reasons, before the two-month deadline or an agreed extended date.
  • Offer a right of appeal, and keep a written record of every stage.

Getting flexible working right

A summary of the essentials covered in this guide:
  • Every employee can request flexible working, including hybrid or remote working, from day one.
  • An employee can make up to two statutory requests in any 12-month period, in writing, marked as statutory.
  • Decide within two months, including any appeal, unless you and the employee agree to extend.
  • Consult before refusing, and refuse only for one of the eight specified business reasons.
  • From 2027, exact date not yet confirmed, a refusal will need to explain why it is reasonable.
  • Offer an appeal, record every stage, and confirm the decision in writing.

How Jamie HR helps

Jamie HR keeps flexible working requests, consultation notes and decisions recorded against the two-month deadline, in one place.
  • Flexible working requests logged from day one, with the statutory two-month deadline tracked automatically.
  • Consultation notes and decisions stored against each request, ready if a decision is ever challenged.
  • Updated contracts generated automatically when a request changes hours, times or place of work.
  • Policy library so every manager applies the same statutory process.
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This guide is general information, accurate to the best of our knowledge as of 2026, and is not legal advice. Employment law changes and every situation is different, so for a specific case take professional HR or legal advice. Sources: ACAS, gov.uk and the Employment Rights Act 1996 (as amended).