Flexible working request

[Emsie1987]

Hi.

I put a flexible working request in last year as I was due to come back from maternity. I requested to reduce my hours and to work one or two days from home.

My reduced hours were accepted and my working from home request was on a trial period for three months. This ended in December 2020. In the formal letter it said I would hear back two weeks before the end date whether I had passed etc. I never did. I didn't push it as we were all working from home and they were waiting to find out what was happening with covid and future working from home policies.

I was just wondering if anyone knew where I stood legally if any if I haven't heard back after my trial period. Is it just automatically accepted or can it be removed at any point now?

Thank you

I think you would be perfectly reasonable to assume that an arrangement agreed subject to a trial period of three months that is still in place without problem six months after the trial has finished is now agreed, and permanent. I wouldn't suggest rocking the boat by asking, but if they didn't agree an extension to the trial period with you, and they try and argue the trial hasn't been successful, and withdraw the arrangement, I would be pushing back very strongly in your position.

I agree with the above poster, only concern you may have down the line is I assume your contract hasn't been updated to reflect a permanent change and this could cause you trouble later down the line

Thank you both.

My contract was changed to reflect the reduced hours but not the working from home.

I don't necessary want to rock the boat but I do need to bring up with work that I need that one day at home to be set to a fixed day 90% of the time due to childcare not starting till later on one day which makes it impossible to get to work for the start time. If it can't be fixed I will need to reduce my hours on that day by 1.

”My contract was changed to reflect the reduced hours but not the working from home.”

Presumably you have the trial period for working from home in writing though?

You’re allowed to put in one request every 12 months.

Yes I do have the trial period in writing with the expiry date as well.

Also when I requested my working from home. I put one or two days but in the letter they only said one day. They didn't give a reason why two wouldn't work. Do they need to do this? Or can they just ignore it and only refer to the option that they think will work.

@Emsie1987

Yes I do have the trial period in writing with the expiry date as well.

Also when I requested my working from home. I put one or two days but in the letter they only said one day. They didn't give a reason why two wouldn't work. Do they need to do this? Or can they just ignore it and only refer to the option that they think will work.

If your request was for “one or two” and they agreed to one, that seeks reasonable to me. Certainly far too late now to ask for specific reasons why two wasn’t agreed.

Yeah I did that would be the problem. Thank you for your help