In the UK, all employees have the legal right to request flexible working. Employees can do this through a process called “making a statutory complaint”.

Flexible working is a way of working that suits an employee’s individual needs, which can be anything from having flexible start and finish times or working from home.

Legally, to be eligible for flexible working, employees must have been working for a single employer for at least 26 weeks.

Employers must deal with requests in a ‘reasonable manner’, which involves:

• assessing the advantages and disadvantages of the application
• holding a meeting to discuss the request with the employee
• offering an appeal process