UK proposes face-to-face meetings for flexible-working refusals
Proposed reforms would require employers to properly consider requests, meet employees and explain decisions to refuse them.
The UK government has announced proposed reforms to strengthen employees’ rights to request flexible working, including a requirement for employers to meet face to face with workers whose requests are refused.
Louise Haigh announced the changes at the Trades Union Congress conference on 15 September 2026. Under the proposal, employers would have to properly consider each request, meet with the employee and explain the reasons for any refusal.
UK employees already have a legal right to request flexible working, but employers are currently required only to consider applications in a “reasonable manner”. The proposed changes would add greater procedural obligations to the employer’s decision-making process.
Haigh said the reforms would not require every request to be approved. She acknowledged that some jobs could not be done from home and that businesses had to make operational arrangements work, while arguing that every request should be taken seriously.
The announcement came as Haigh praised unions for campaigning for the Employment Rights Act, which the report said had introduced or provided for changes involving sick pay, parental leave and zero-hours contracts. The source does not specify when the proposed flexible-working rules would take effect or how they would be enforced.
