Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023

The Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023 have been laid before Parliament.

These Regulations remove the requirement that an employee must have 26 weeks’ service in order to be able to make a request for flexible working. The change makes the right to request flexible working a ‘Day One’ right and will come into effect for flexible working requests made on or after 6 April 2024.

As far back as 2022, the government indicated their intention to make this change. However, it was notably omitted from the other changes to the statutory flexible working regime, included in the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 published earlier this year.

The Act will come into force on a date set by the Secretary of State in a separate statutory instrument. However, it is likely that these changes will come into force in April 2024 – the same time as the Day One right comes into effect.