Recommendation 13

HM Government Rejected

The Government has not made an assessment of the impact of equality impact assessments on flexible working and has no plans to require firms to undertake equality impact assessments. The flexible working changes that were introduced on 6 April will help to promote diversity within the workplace. The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act makes changes to the flexible working provisions in the Employment Rights Act 1996 to: • introduce a new requirement for employers to consult with the employee before rejecting their flexible working request; • allow an employee to make two statutory requests in any 12-month period (rather than the current one request); • reduce the decision period (within which an employer administers the statutory request) from three months to two months; and • remove the existing requirement that the employee must explain what effect, if any, the change applied for would have on the employer and how that effect might be dealt with. In addition, all employees are now able to request flexible working from day 1 of a new job, bringing an estimated 2.6 million more employees in scope of the entitlement. Guidance provided to employers to support them to close their gender pay gaps suggests further analysis which employers may want to do. This includes potentially assessing the progression of part-time employees, variance in the take up of flexible working, and using staff surveys to identify differences in awareness of flexible working policies and support for take-up.