How does flex request impact contract?

[flexhelp]

I'm in the civil service going through a flexible working request process which, touch wood, is looking like it'll be approved as it is supported by my manager/DD. Basically remote working although a couple of contact days a month.

But what does it mean in practice? I'm assuming they can pull it any time they want essentially? (With a business need but that seems quite broad if they really wanted to do). I'm subject to regular reviews. Do I have any kind of contractual protections?

I suppose I'm just looking for a little security, feel like I've waited 3 years for the CS to pull the rug and now they have I'm just scared of it happening again, it feels so uncertain.

You normally need to be given a certain amount of notice and your employer needs to be able to show that they have been fair in the decision making. But if it is not the hours written down in your contract then they can change.

Make sure you get a new contract and not a formal looking informal agreement where they send you a letter but don't change your contract.

Check your department's policies, most have info about review periods etc. and each will have its own approach. The last dept I was in was reluctant to change contracts and would tell us these arrangements could be accommodated within the non contractual hybrid working policy - which is fine until the hybrid working policy suddenly changes like it has just now!

The last contract variation I did was one I insisted on because, as I told HR, if we accept the medical evidence the person needs to work from home full time because of their ADHD (which we collectively did) then we had to accept that his ADHD wasn't going to clear up and the change needed to be permanent for his piece of mind rather than getting caught up in the inevitable hybrid working policy nonsense.

It's easier in some ways if you've had it as a reasonable adjustment rather than just your preference as you've something to fall back on if they want to revoke it. As you will have seen from the recent changes to hybrid working, senior leadership come under a lot of pressure on these things and you might find that suddenly your DD isn't able to support you anymore.

Thank you, I will see if I can push for a contractual change. My extenuating circumstances are 2 fold; my husband's job and then my child's additional needs. The former makes the latter much more difficult, I'm wondering if I need to press more on the latter as currently I talk more about the job, whilst my husband's job could change and make life a lot easier, my child's additional needs won't change and even as he matures we would benefit from me WFH to support him.

You need to show how the proposed pattern will work for your employer and still meet the criteria of the role, regardless of your reasons for asking.

@LIZS yes I've done that.

I'd definitely focus on your role as a carer (in those terms), your husband's job is none of their concern and could change at any point anyway.

@youveturnedupwelldone my husband is in the military and my employer is signed up to the Armed Forces Covenant which is essentially a promise to support armed forces personnel and their families to ensure we are treated fairly so it isn't true to say it isn't their concern. It is a defining factor of our family dynamic and HR agree it is part of what pushes my parental circumstances to extenuating, so I do need to make it part of my request.

Ah! In that case I'd just labour both points and ask for it to be a contract change. It sounds like the same sort of situation I described - everyone accepts the situation warrants the flex working pattern but they need a little push to take it the extra step.

I reckon they'll be nervous about it just now and may very well have been given instructions not to issue new contracts because of the 60% thing. That's what happened to us, they'd only readily issue new contracts for part time/term time requests , and not for "change of workplace" agreements like you're going for (unless you had a persistent line manager like me!)

@youveturnedupwelldone yeah I completely agree, I've been a little taken aback by how supportive they've been tbh but it helps my role is very well suited to WFH and there isn't anyone else in our team applying, perhaps if there was an avalanche it would be different!

I will gauge what appetite there is for contractual change but yes think I will really need to press on my son's issues more as DH could leave any time (I don't think he will be though sadly ha!) all I know is I no longer want to rely on management's 'good will' because as soon as the situation has changed and they have pressure on them there is only so much they can do, and that's not fair on them either. I'm regretting not doing it sooner.