ACAS has launched a consultation on an updated draft version of its statutory Code of Practice on handling requests for flexible working. The updated draft Acas Code of Practice reflects the anticipated changes to flexible working laws proposed to be implemented by the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill, and the significant shift in flexible working in the workplace since the current Acas Code of Practice was published in 2014. 

The updated draft is more detailed than the previous version, and it seeks to encourage a more positive approach to flexible working, through a new Foreword. It also seeks to strengthen its good practice message by:

• extending the categories of individuals who may accompany an employee at meetings to discuss a flexible working request
• providing guidance that employers should set out such additional information as is reasonable to help explain their decision to reject a flexible working request
• providing guidance that employers should allow an appeal where a flexible working request has been rejected. 

The consultation closes on 6 September 2023, and Acas will also update its non-statutory guidance on flexible working which sits alongside the Code of Practice.

Source: New feed