New rights for working carers
From 6 April 2007, many employees with caring responsibilities will have the right to ask their employer for flexible working arrangements and their employers will have a legal duty to consider requests seriously.
Who qualifies for the new right?
To qualify:
- employees must have been working for their employer continuously for the last 26 weeks or more; and
- their request must relate to the care of an adult who is their spouse, partner, civil partner, relative or, alternatively, any adult living with them at their address.
The term “relative” covers any of the following:
- parent, adopter, guardian, step-parent, parent-in-law, son, daughter, step-son, step-daughter, brother, sister, step-brother, step-sister, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, uncle aunt and grandparent. It also covers adoptive relationships and relationships such as half-brother and half-sister.
What is flexible working?
Flexible working can take many forms, giving carers the possibility of re-organising their working hours to suit the needs of the person they care for. Options for chainging working hours are limited only by the ability of the business to accommodate the new arrangement. Flexible working could mean coming into work an hour or two later than normal, leaving an hour or two earlier (and making up the hours at another time), sharing a post with a colleague, working from home for part of the week, working more hours over fewer days, reducing overall hours worked, and so on.
Applying for flexible working
To access flexible working options, eligible employees can make a request to their employer. Forms to help employees apply and employers respond are available for download. When making an application for flexible working under the new right, employees will need to tell their employer how they think the working hours they want can be accommodated. They can do this by making constructive suggestions as to how the employer might deal with the change.
The employer must give the request serious consideration, and can only turn it down if there are sound business reasons for doing so. If the employer does turn down the request, the employee can appeal this decision.
Can anybody else apply?
Employees with children under six or disabled children under 18 are already legally entitled to request flexible working. Although the legal right does not cover wider groups, employees and employers are free to negotiate arrangements in a similar way to deal with other situations.
Getting more information
- The Department's revised guidance booklet provides more detailed information on the right to request flexible working.
- Employees and employers can download a leaflet detailing the extension of the right to request flexible working to employees who care for an adult relative or another adult living at the same address.
- CarersUK, in association with other organisations, has prepared guidance for employees
and employers ; it has also published a research report and summary outlining the benefits to business of supporting working carers. - ACAS has produced a booklet detailing how employers can implement flexible working .