Employees who have primary care responsibility for children under the age of six or disabled children under the age of 18, have the right to request flexible working. From 6 April 2007 the law extended this right to carers of adults.

Employers have a duty to consider employee requests for flexible working against the needs of the business as a whole.

The DTI's Second Flexible Working Employee Survey 2005 found that nearly 65% of the UK workforce are aware of their right to request flexible working, compared to 41% in 2003. The study showed nearly a quarter of working parents with young children have asked to work flexibly over the past two years, while 14% of all employees made such a request. The statistics also show that employers had accepted 81% of all requests by employees to work flexibly, compared to 77% in 2003.

For more information:
» Swiftwork Newsletter Feb 2003

In this section:
» Working Time Directive
» Disability Discrimination
» Maternity and Paternity Rights
» Paternity Leave
» Adoption Leave

Working Time Directive
This European Directive limits the number of hours employees can be expected to work though the UK has negotiated an opt-out clause, which allows workers to chose to work longer hours if they wish. The basic rights and protections that the Regulations provide are:

• A limit of an average of 48 hours a week which a worker can be required to work
• A limit of an average of 8 hours work in 24 which nightworkers can be required to work
• A right for night workers to receive free health assessments
• A right to 11 hours rest a day
• A right to one day off per week
• A right to an in-work rest break if the working day is longer than 6 hours
• A right to 4 weeks paid leave per year

Disability Discrimination
Employees who are disabled or become disabled during the course of their employment are protected by the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. This defines disability as "a physical or mental impairment which has substantial and long term adverse effects on a person's ability to carry out normal day to day activities." It is the duty of an employer to consider the working environment and arrangements of someone with a disability, and to make reasonable adjustments to enable continued employment or future recruitment. Changing a working pattern could be one way of making such an adjustment.

Maternity and Paternity Rights
Since April 2003, the length of maternity leave has been increased to 26 weeks' ordinary maternity leave, regardless of how long they have worked for their employer.

Ordinary maternity leave is normally paid leave.

Women who have completed 26 weeks' continuous service with their employer by the beginning of the 14th week before their expected week of childbirth can take additional maternity leave. Additional maternity leave starts immediately after ordinary maternity leave and continues for a further 26 weeks.

Additional maternity leave is usually unpaid although a woman may have contractual rights to pay during her period of additional maternity leave.

A pregnant employee must notify her employer of her intention to take maternity leave by the end of the 15th week before her expected week of childbirth, unless this is not reasonably practicable. She must tell her employer:

• that she is pregnant
• the week her baby is expected to be born
• when she wants her maternity leave to start.

A woman can change her mind about when she wants to start her leave providing she tells her employer at least 28 days in advance.

Employers are required to respond to a woman's notification of her leave plans within 28 days unless the woman has varied that date, in which case the employer must respond with 28 days of the start of maternity leave. An employer must write to his employee, setting out the date on which he expects her to return to work if she takes her full entitlement to maternity leave. The earliest date a woman may start maternity leave is the beginning of the 11th week before her baby is due.

A woman who intends to return to work at the end of her full maternity leave entitlement is not required to give any further notification to her employer.

An employee who wants to return to work before the end of her maternity leave needs to give her employer 28 days' notice of the date she wants to return to work.

If a woman is absent because of maternity related sickness after the beginning o the fourth week before the expected birth, her maternity leave automatically begins immediately.

Paternity Leave
Fathers who have completed 26 weeks continuous employment are entitled to take up to two weeks paid paternity leave any time up to 56 days after the birth of a child. The man must be the baby's biological father or the partner/husband of the mother. The man has (or expects to have) responsibility for the baby's upbringing.

Adoption Leave
Adopters are entitled to up to 26 weeks' ordinary adoption leave followed immediately by up to 26 weeks' additional adoption leave - a total of up to 52 weeks' leave.

Ordinary adoption leave is normally paid leave.

Additional adoption leave is usually unpaid although an adopter may have contractual rights to pay during his period of additional adoption leave.

They can choose to start their leave:

• from the date of the child's placement (whether this is earlier or later than expected), or
• from a fixed date which can be up to 14 days before the expected date of placement