Flexible working refusals could get riskier, so tighten your process now
What’s happened
City AM reports that Labour’s Employment Rights Act reforms are set to make flexible working the default, and that employees could find it easier to challenge a refusal via the Employment Tribunal (ET). Lawyers quoted in the piece warn a refusal could be overturned if it is judged “unreasonable”, with compensation awards up to £6,000 mentioned. The consultation on these changes is said to run until 30 April 2026.
This is also happening at a time when the ET backlog is already very high, and City AM flags concerns that it could get worse.
Why this matters for SMEs
This is not just a “policy update”. It’s a process and evidence issue.
If flexible working refusals become easier to challenge, the businesses most exposed are the ones where:
- managers decide informally (or inconsistently)
- refusals are not properly recorded
- nobody can show alternatives were explored (trial period, different pattern, partial flexibility)
The Employment Tribunal delay problem (the hidden cost)
Even if you are convinced you would ultimately “win”, the timeline can be brutal.
Official tribunal statistics show that in Q2 2025 the Employment Tribunal received 12,000 single claims and disposed of 5,900, and the open caseload was 52,000 single claim cases by the end of September 2025. That gap matters because it points to long waits and a system under strain.
So if a flexible working refusal turns into a claim, you can end up with months (sometimes longer) of:
- management time drain
- decisions being re-litigated internally again and again
- evidence going stale (people leave, memories fade, notes are patchy)
- settlement pressure, purely to make it go away
Discussion questions
- When you say “no” to flexible working, can you actually back it up in writing, or is it mostly vibes?
- Do your managers know what they’re allowed to say when refusing a request, or are they freelancing?
- How often are decisions consistent across the business, and how often is it “depends who your manager is”?
- Have you ever refused a request and then immediately worried you’d handled it badly?
- Do you offer trial periods and alternatives, or do you jump straight to a flat “no”?
- If an employee challenged your last refusal, would your notes help you, or hang you?
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