Big Changes to Family Friendly Rights from 6 April 2024: Right to Request Flexible Working from “Day One”; Extension of Redundancy Protection for those on Maternity, Adoption and Shared Parental Leave; and Introduction of Unpaid Carer’s Leave.
Several new family-friendly regulations were laid before Parliament earlier this week, and are now set to come into effect on 6 April 2024. This includes:
Currently, employees must have at least 26 weeks’ continuous employment to qualify for the right to request flexible working.
However, The Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023 remove this requirement, meaning that employees will be able to make a flexible working request from “day one” of their employment. This will apply to requests which are made on or after 6 April 2024.
We previously reported that the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023, which received Royal Assent on 20 July 2023, made other various changes to the flexible working regime. This included new obligations for employers to consult with employees before refusing their request and to deal with requests within two months, as well as the right for employees to make two flexible working requests in any 12 month period, but did not make it a “day one” right.The new Regulations therefore plug this gap. It is still unclear when the Act will come into force, but it is expected that this will also be 6 April 2024 to tie in with the new Regulations.
Currently, if employees on maternity leave, shared parental leave or adoption leave are at risk of redundancy, employers must offer suitable alternative employment to them (where a vacancy exists), giving them priority over other redundant employees who are not on family related leave. This protection ends once these employees have returned to work.
However, the Maternity Leave, Adoption Leave and Shared Parental Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024 extend the period of this special protection from redundancy as follows:
Effectively, this means that employees will be entitled to an additional six months of redundancy protection.
The extended protection will apply to pregnancies which have been disclosed to the employer on or after 6 April 2024, and any maternity, adoption and shared parental leave ending on or after 6 April 2024.
The Carer’s Leave Regulations 2024 set out the framework under which employees can apply to take up to one week of unpaid carer’s leave in any 12 month period. This will be a “day one” right and will apply to employees who seek to take carer’s leave on or after 6 April 2024.
The right applies to employees who have a dependant with a long-term care need and want time off work to provide or arrange care for them. The leave can be taken in half or full days, and does not have to be taken on consecutive days. Employees need to give notice of their intention to take the leave which is either twice as long as the period of leave requested, or three days (whichever is longer).
Employers can choose to postpone carer’s leave if business operations would by unduly disrupted by it, as long as they allow the leave to be taken within one month of the original date requested and consult with the employee to agree the new date. Employers need to give written notice of the postponement before the leave was due to begin, setting out the reason for the postponement and the agreed dates on which the employee can take carer’s leave.
It is also important to note that employees are protected from any detriment and/or dismissal arising because they took, or sought to take, carer’s leave (or the employer believed they were likely to take carer’s leave).
Simon deMaid comments:
These changes are likely to have a significant impact on employees and employers alike. They will be widely welcomed by employees with children and dependants, but employers need to be aware of changes coming into effect from 6 April 2024 so that they are ready to deal with any requests for flexible working and/or carer’s leave appropriately, and to plan any redundancy processes with more care in light of the enhanced protection given to employees who are on, or have recently returned from, family-related leave.
If you have any questions or require any assistance on the upcoming changes, please contact a member of the team here.
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