Government maps out its plans for extending flexible working

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has recently published its Business Plan for 2011 to 2015 – and this includes the Government’s timetable for extending the right to request flexible working to all employees.

In the Business Plan, the Government says that it intends to:

1. Put legislation in place to extend the right to request flexible working to parents of children under 18 years of age by April 2011 (it currently only applies to parents of children under 17, or 18 if the child is disabled);

2. Publish proposals on extending the right to request flexible working to all employees and “shared parental leave” in January 2011, with the consultation to be completed in March 2011;

3. Analyse the responses to the consultation, and develop plans on extending the right to request flexible working and “shared parental leave” to all employees by December 2011. 

Although no date is given for when the extension of the right to request flexible working will occur, it appears that the Government is aiming for April 2012 (though this is currently unconfirmed.)

The Business Plan also confirms that:

1. Draft Regulations to remove the default retirement age are being prepared and will come into force in April 2011 (with guidance for employers made available by September 2011); and

2. A “red-tape taskforce” to identify ways of reducing the bureaucratic burden on businesses and voluntary organisations will be launched by May 2011. This will include a ‘one-in, one-out’ system so that no new regulation can be brought in without another regulation being removed.

UPDATE: 18 March 2011 – The Government has announced that it will not extend the right to request flexible working to parents of children aged 17 on 6 April 2011.