Using the right to request flexible working where your employer is trying to change your terms and conditions

If you meet the criteria to make a request for flexible working, you may be able to make a request to vary your hours.  The procedure is meant to be used when an employee wants to change their working pattern to a new one, rather than to stop an employer changing their hours. However, it can be useful to use the right in a situation where it is the employer who wants the change, because if an application is made under the right to flexible working, your employer must have a series of meetings with you. The meetings can provide an opportunity for you to explain your difficulties in doing the new hours.

There is a risk, in putting in a flexible working request, that you imply to the employer that you accept the change that they have suggested and that you now wish to make a further change to it. This will make it difficult or impossible to bring certain types of claims. So, you must only use the right to request if you make it clear to your employer that you don’t accept the legitimacy of the change. You should do this by writing on the front of the application “This application is made on the basis that I object to the change being made and that I do not agree the change is lawful”.  

You should get more advice from, for example, a Citizens Advice Bureau, before making a request.