July Employment Update on Flexibility for all at work

BALC is now offering its member councils access to Bethan Osborne, an experienced HR and employment advisor. As part of that service Bethan will write a monthly article on relevant employment legislation changes that could affect your council. The full article will be placed in the Documents section of our website, under the BALC documents tab. This months article is new rights for flexible working.

WHAT DOES FLEXIBILITY FOR ALL AT WORK MEAN FOR YOUR COUNCIL?

The new Children and Families Act 2014 (effective on 30th June 2014) extended the right to request flexible working to all employees who have at least 26 weeks service. The full article answers all the questions below

Why now?
What is Flexible Working?
What is changing?
What is the new process? 
What reasons can be used to reject a request?
Why should our council agree to a request?
What are the risks of saying “no”?
What should my council do next?
How does this apply to my council when I only work 5 hours per week? 
How does this apply to my council if I might be over 65?  

Further legislative changes under the Children and Families Act 2014 come into effect in April 2015 where maternity and paternity leave rights are being revised to allow Shared Parental Leave. This will give the right to both parents to share the undertaking of childcare in the first year of a baby’s life by being allowed a statutory right to paid time off work.  This topic will be explored in greater depth in next month’s bulletin.

Prepared by Bethan Osborne, HR Consultant and employment advisor to BALC and member councils.