The draft code provides examples of the current wide range of flexible working options that exists and also makes clear to the employer that the employer should always approach requests to work flexibly from the presumption that their request will be granted unless there is a business reason for not granting the request.
If the request is to be rejected it should be for one of the following business reasons as set out in legislation:
The burden of additional costs An inability to reorganise work An inability to recruit additional staff A detrimental impact on quality of performance or to meet customer demand Insufficient work for the periods the employee proposes to work A planned structural change to your business
The Draft Code of Practice on the extended right to request flexible working is available at the Acas website and the consultation will run for 12 weeks closing on 20 May 2013.
The Children and Families Act received its second reading on 25 February 2013.
Parental Leave
INCREASE IN UNPAID PARENTAL LEAVE TO BE POSTPONED BY ONE YEAR
3 February 2012
The government has announced that it is to postpone the extension of the right to unpaid parental leave until 2013 due to the ongoing development of its Modern Workplaces policy.
Personnel Today reports:
Under the Parental Leave Directive, the parents of a child under the age of five will each have the right to take up to 18 weeks' unpaid parental leave, an extension of five weeks from the current provisions. The Directive from the European Council comes into force on 8 March 2012 but the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has told XpertHR that the Government intends to use a grace period that allows member states to delay implementation of the changes by one year "to take account of particular difficulties". In May 2011, the Government stated that the increase would be incorporated into a system of flexible parental leave as set out in its Modern Workplaces consultation. However, the increase in unpaid paternal leave will come into force ahead of other proposals set out in the consultation, which are expected to come into force in 2015. Susie Munro, employment law editor at XpertHR, commented: "The Government is saying that it is necessary to delay the increase to parental leave due to the ongoing Modern Workplaces policy development, although the parental leave increase seems quite straightforward and will still come in more than two years ahead of the changes to family leave proposed in the Modern Workplaces consultation.
View further information on the delay of the increase in parental leave .
CIPP Policy News Journal
12/04/2013, Page 343 of 362
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