Acas published a draft statutory code of practice on flexible working requests on 1 October, and employers have until 17 December 2026 to say whether it is clear and practical.
What happened
The draft code reflects changes the Employment Rights Act 2025 will bring in, which Acas expects to take effect in autumn 2027. Under those changes an employer can refuse a request only where it is reasonable to do so for one or more of the existing statutory business reasons. The employer must also explain why the refusal is reasonable and follow mandatory consultation steps, which the government will set out in secondary legislation.
The draft builds on four principles: reaching decisions based on evidence, adapting where possible to enable a request, working together to find solutions, and acting transparently and consistently. The consultation closes at 11:59pm on 17 December 2026.
Why it matters
The current Acas code, which came into force in 2024, stays in force until the updated code replaces it. Acas says employment tribunals must take the code into account where it is relevant to a case, so the draft previews the standard a manager’s decision will be read against. Acas also says flexible working matters account for less than 1% of the early conciliation notifications and tribunal claims it receives.
The detail worth noticing
This is our analysis. The consultation form limits each open-text answer to 500 words, and Acas says it may use AI tools to group responses and identify themes, with staff reviewing every response. An employer that wants its operational constraints on the record has a hard word cap and a theme-sorting step to write for, which favours concrete examples over general statements. Our piece on the wider run of UK employment changes sets out the earlier dates, and the bereavement leave change is another 2027 item.
Source: Acas, draft Code of Practice on requests for flexible working
