The Employment Rights Act 2025 is starting to bite, and the changes to flexible working rights UK 2026 employers must now follow could reshape the working lives of millions of women. This week the government also launched a new charter aimed squarely at women in research, signalling that flexibility is now a policy priority, not a perk.
On 2 July 2026, the Government unveiled a new initiative designed to improve support for women working across the UK’s research sector, with new commitments on paid family leave, flexible working, fairer career progression and tackling workplace harassment. It sits alongside the biggest shake-up of employment law in a generation, and if you employ staff, manage a team, or are considering a flexible working request yourself, the rules have moved on.
What the Employment Rights Act 2025 actually changes
The Employment Rights Bill received Royal Assent in December 2025 and became the Employment Rights Act 2025. Since April 2024, employees have had the right to request flexible working from day one of employment, and they can make two requests in any 12-month period. The new Act does not scrap that framework. It tightens it.
Under the reforms, employers must show that any refusal is reasonable, not just tick one of the eight business reasons listed in the legislation. Employees have a right to request flexible working from day 1. Employers can refuse based on one or more of the eight business reasons listed in legislation. Those grounds, including the burden of additional costs, detrimental effect on quality, and inability to reorganise work among existing staff, remain in place.
What is new is the reasonableness test and a formal process employers will have to follow. Given reasonableness will now be a requirement, employers may now find employees adopting a more tactical approach of asking for smaller changes which may be harder to turn down under the new regime. Employers who are currently engaged in return to office debates or considering mandating increased office attendance may also wish to consider adopting a clear position before the changes come into force.
Flexible working rights UK 2026: the consultation that will shape the detail
The Act is on the statute book, but much of the detail is still being worked out. On 5 February 2026 the government launched a consultation aimed at establishing what this new statutory process should be. The consultation closed earlier this spring and the response is expected to feed into secondary legislation later in 2026 and 2027.
The Department for Business and Trade has been clear about the direction of travel. Employers will still be able to refuse requests that aren’t feasible or reasonable in line with the existing eight business reasons for rejection. The difference is that a blanket “no” or a boilerplate letter citing “operational reasons” is unlikely to survive scrutiny at tribunal.
For women in business, the practical effect of the new flexible working rights UK 2026 framework is that refusals will need documentation, evidence, and a genuine engagement with the request. Employers who currently rely on a five-minute meeting and a form letter will need to rethink.
Why this matters more for women
Flexible working is not a gendered issue in law, but in practice it is. Women still do the majority of unpaid caring work in the UK, and they are more likely to request reduced or reshaped hours after having children or when caring for elderly relatives. When flexible working requests are refused, women disproportionately drop out of the labour market or move into lower-paid, part-time roles.
The King’s College London research published in October 2025 found that flexible working policies not enough to change workplace practices. Policy on paper has never been the same as culture in practice. That gap is what the reasonableness test is designed to close.
There is a particular gain for women returning from maternity leave. Under the old regime, a woman could request compressed hours or a four-day week and receive a one-line refusal citing performance concerns. Under the new flexible working rights UK 2026 rules, that employer will need to explain why the refusal is reasonable, in writing, following a consultation with the employee.
The Women in Research Charter: a signal of intent
The July 2026 charter is not law, but it is a strong signal. It sets out how universities, funders and research employers should support women through career transitions. Women researchers can access and use flexible working arrangements without detriment to their career progression or access to research opportunities.
The charter matters beyond academia for two reasons. First, it establishes a benchmark that other sectors will be measured against. Second, it makes explicit the link between flexibility and progression, an area where women have historically been penalised. Part-time and hybrid workers are still less likely to be promoted, and the charter treats that as a problem to be solved rather than a fact to be accepted.
What flexible working rights UK 2026 mean for your workplace
If you employ staff, you need to prepare now. The reasonableness requirement will apply to every request, and the penalty for getting it wrong is not trivial. The current maximum award for breaching the statutory flexible working regime is eight weeks’ pay, and the government has consulted on whether that should rise.
Here is what to do before the new rules come fully into force:
- Audit your current policy. If it says “requests will be considered on business grounds”, that is no longer enough. It needs to reflect the reasonableness test and the consultation process.
- Train line managers. Most refusals go wrong at the manager conversation, not the HR letter. Managers need to understand that “we’ve always done it this way” is not a business reason.
- Document everything. Keep notes of the request, the consultation meeting, the reasoning, and the alternatives considered. Tribunals will look for a paper trail.
- Consider trial periods. A three-month trial of compressed hours is often easier to agree than a permanent change, and it protects both sides.
- Review your grounds carefully. “Detrimental effect on quality” needs evidence. “Inability to reorganise work” needs a genuine attempt at reorganisation first.
If you are making a request: how to strengthen your case
The new flexible working rights UK 2026 framework works better if you engage with it properly. A well-drafted request is harder to refuse than a vague one. Be specific about the pattern you want, the date you want it to start, and how you propose to handle the impact on your team.
Address the eight business reasons head-on in your written request. If you know your role generates most of its work between Tuesday and Thursday, propose those as your core days. If a client meeting falls on your proposed non-working day, explain how you will cover it. The more you pre-empt the objections, the harder it is for an employer to argue that refusal is reasonable.
You can find the statutory framework and current guidance on gov.uk, and Acas has published detailed guidance on the Employment Rights Act 2025 and how the flexible working reforms will operate in practice.
The bigger picture for women in work
The flexible working reforms sit inside a much wider package. The Employment Rights Act also strengthens protections against unfair dismissal from day one, tightens the rules on zero-hours contracts, and extends statutory sick pay. Taken together, these are the most significant changes to UK employment law since the late 1990s.
For women who run businesses, the message is dual. As employers, you have new obligations to meet, and the cost of getting it wrong will rise. As workers and founders navigating the labour market, you have stronger tools to shape work around life rather than the other way round. The flexible working rights UK 2026 rules are one part of that shift, and they deserve close attention this year and next.
For more on the wider context, read our overview of women in business key UK facts, our guide to trust and flexible working, and our practical resource for freelance mums building flexible careers.