The Rota · sources

Chapter 4: The Request They Have to Take Seriously

6 sources. Checked September 2026. Note 4 corrected 24 September 2026.

Every claim in this chapter is traced to the source behind it. Below is each one, numbered as it appears in the book, with a link that opens the original.

Employment Rights Act 1996, s. 80F, as amended: examples of what a flexible working request can cover include hours worked, times of work and place of work.
www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/section/80F
The Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (SI 2023/1328), reg. 2, and its Explanatory Note (legislation.gov.uk, read directly): omits regulation 3 of the Flexible Working Regulations 2014, in force 6 April 2024, removing the previous 26-week qualifying period, so no minimum length of service is needed to make a statutory request.
www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2023/1328/contents/made
Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023, c. 33 (legislation.gov.uk) and its Explanatory Notes: increases permitted requests to 2 in any 12-month period (concurrent requests not allowed); reduces the employer's decision deadline from 3 months to 2 months; introduces a duty to consult the employee before refusing a request.
www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/33/contents
Employment Rights Act 1996, s. 80G(1)(b), as amended (legislation.gov.uk), together with the Acas Code of Practice on requests for flexible working (2024): an employer may only refuse an application on one or more of eight specified grounds. The Employment Rights Act 2025, c. 36, s. 9 will replace this with a list in a new s. 80G(1ZA) and require that "it is reasonable for the employer to refuse the application on that ground or those grounds". Section 9 was commenced on 6 January 2026 only for the purpose of making regulations (SI 2026/3, reg. 2), and Acas states that the change will take effect in 2027.
www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/section/80G
www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/3
www.acas.org.uk/employment-rights-act-2025
Acas, Statutory flexible working requests: making a request guidance (2024): a request must be in writing and state that it is a statutory request; it must include the date, the change requested and start date, and details of any previous statutory requests.
www.acas.org.uk/statutory-flexible-working-requests
McCay Legal, Flexible working requests in Northern Ireland (2024), citing Article 112F of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996: Northern Ireland has not adopted the day-one right; employees there still need 26 weeks' continuous employment to make a statutory flexible working request. Confirmed directly in the instrument's own Explanatory Memorandum (SI 2023/1328, para. 4.1, legislation.gov.uk): "employment law is reserved for Scotland and Wales but devolved to Northern Ireland. It will be for the Northern Ireland Assembly to decide whether similar provisions should apply in Northern Ireland.".
www.legislation.gov.uk/nisi/1996/1919/article/112F

Sources for the other chapters are listed at ageingparent.co.uk/sources. Free guides on the topics in this book are at ageingparent.co.uk.