Flexible Working and Home Working
Flexible working and home working often overlap, but they solve different employment issues and use different documents.
This section helps employers find the right template for each situation, whether an employee is making a formal flexible working request or an agreed home working arrangement needs to be put in place and managed properly.
Responding to a Flexible Working Request
The Flexible Working Policy and Documents section is for handling requests to change working hours, working patterns, or place of work.
It includes a policy and a practical set of letters covering the main stages of the process, including acknowledgement, decisions, refusals, appeals, and cases where the employee is not eligible to make a request.
This is the right place to start where an employee wants to work part time, term time, flexi-time, or under another adjusted working pattern.
Setting Up and Managing Home Working
The Home Working Policy and Documents section is for employers putting formal home working arrangements in place.
These documents cover the wider practical and contractual issues that come with working from home, including communication, equipment, insurance, security, data protection, and health and safety.
It is particularly useful where home working will be a regular arrangement rather than just an occasional informal practice.
Which Set of Documents Do You Need?
Use this section when you need documents for either:
- an employee’s request to change how, when, or where they work; or
- the terms, policies, and risk management needed for home working.
In short, the flexible working documents help you deal with the request. The home working documents help you manage the arrangement once working from home is part of the role.
Flexible Working and Home Working is part of Employment. Just £38.50 + VAT provides unlimited downloads from Employment for 1 year.
Frequently Asked Questions
An employee has asked to change their hours or work pattern. Which Simply-Docs documents do I need? +
Use the Flexible Working Policy and Documents sub-folder. Since 6 April 2024, any employee has a statutory right to make up to two flexible working requests in any 12-month period from day one of employment, and an employer must respond within two months. The sub-folder includes a policy and a practical set of letters covering acknowledgement, decisions, refusals, appeals and ineligible requests, giving you everything needed to handle the process correctly.
I have agreed that an employee will work from home regularly. What documents do I need to put that arrangement in place properly? +
Use the Home Working Policy and Documents sub-folder. Once a working-from-home arrangement is agreed, you need documents covering the practical and contractual side: communication expectations, equipment, insurance, security, data protection and health and safety. The sub-folder provides these for regular or permanent home working arrangements, where informal practice is no longer sufficient.
What is the difference between a flexible working request and a home working arrangement, and does it matter which set of documents I use? +
Usually, but not always. A flexible working request is a formal statutory process: an employee asks to change their hours, pattern or place of work, and you must follow a set procedure and respond within two months, unless you agree a longer period with the employee. A flexible or home working arrangement can also be agreed without using the statutory procedure at all, in which case those statutory documents and the two-month clock are not engaged. A home working arrangement is what comes after a request is resolved or is agreed informally: the practical terms under which someone works from home on a regular basis. The flexible working documents deal with the request and decision. The home working documents manage the ongoing arrangement.
Can I refuse an employee's flexible working request, and what process must I follow? +
Yes, but you must follow the statutory process. You cannot refuse without first consulting the employee. Refusal must be based on one or more of eight permitted business grounds set out in law, such as the inability to reorganise work or the detrimental effect on quality or performance. Decisions must be given within two months of the request. There is one important limit to bear in mind. Where the request relates to an employee's disability, you must also follow the separate legal duty under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments, so you cannot simply refuse on a business ground. The Flexible Working Policy and Documents sub-folder includes a refusal letter and an appeal letter to help you carry out this process correctly.
As an employer, do my legal duties for health and safety and data protection still apply when someone works from home? +
Yes, fully. Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, your duty to protect employees applies wherever they work, including at home. Carry out a risk assessment covering ergonomics, electrical safety and mental wellbeing, and comply with the Display Screen Equipment Regulations 1992 where someone is a DSE user, meaning they use display screen equipment daily for continuous periods of an hour or more. The regulations do not apply to workers who use DSE only occasionally or for short periods at home. UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 also apply in full to employees handling personal data at home. The Home Working Policy and Documents sub-folder covers all these areas.
My employee works from home informally at the moment. Do I need to formalise it with documents? +
If home working has become a regular part of the role rather than an occasional informal arrangement, formalising it is advisable. A written home working agreement or policy makes the terms clear to both parties: communication expectations, equipment, insurance, data security and health and safety responsibilities. Without written terms, disputes about working conditions or responsibilities are harder to resolve. The Home Working Policy and Documents sub-folder provides the templates to put a proper arrangement in place.
