Business minister, Mark Prisk has recently announced plans to curb regulations on flexible working and staff training. Owen Warnock, partner at international law firms Eversheds comments:
“The Government’s change of heart about extending flexible work rights removes one imminent legal change which employers were facing. Of course parents of children up to and including the age of 16 will still be able to ask for changes in their working hours. This is a small step in the Government’s programme to minimise the impact of regulations on business and the competitiveness of the UK. We understand that the Government may return to this issue of flexible working in due course but for the time being it’s a case of the status quo”
“Smaller employers will also feel some relief at the decision not to extend employees’ rights to ask for time off for training to companies with fewer than 250 employees. The right already applies to those employed by organisations with 250 or more staff and that will not change. As the legislation stands at present the law is set to apply to smaller employers from 6 April 2011. In both cases, the Government will have to move quickly to change the legislation within the next three weeks.”