Source · Select Committees · Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 11
11
Paragraph: 62
With hybrid working likely to become more common, co-working spaces may offer an opportunity to...
Recommendation
With hybrid working likely to become more common, co-working spaces may offer an opportunity to attract footfall to smaller high streets and town centres. The Government should consider how co-working office spaces can be taxed fairly so as to stimulate high street business without harming local authority income or BID levies.
Paragraph Reference:
62
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
The Government agrees it is important to consider the impacts of flexible working on high streets, and this has been built into policy development. The 2014 flexible working regulations provide employees with 26 weeks continuous service the statutory right to request a contractual change to the location, hours and/or timing of work. Under the framework, employers reserve the right to refuse requests for specified business reasons. The “Making Flexible Working the Default” consultation considered proposals to amend this existing regulatory framework. The impact assessment published alongside the consultation assessed the additional impact of those consultation proposals. In terms of the potential impact on the high street, the key consultation proposal was to remove the 26-week qualifying period. This would mean that the statutory right to request flexible working would be available to all employees regardless of time served. In the impact assessment, we estimate that roughly 8% of employees have changed their jobs, or started one, within the