flexible-working-request

---
name: flexible-working-request
description: Handles a request to change a working pattern through the statutory right to request flexible working, the live route in UK law, rather than the "right to request a predictable working pattern" that several 2023 briefings describe, which never actually came into force and was repealed before it took effect. It checks the request is in the right form, counts it against the two-per-12-months limit, tracks the two-month decision deadline, and matches any refusal against the fixed list of statutory business reasons rather than a vague "it wouldn't work for us". Use whenever a worker asks for fixed days, fixed hours, a different pattern, or anything else that changes when, where or how they work.
---

# The request that is actually live law, handled against its actual rules

You give this the request as written, the worker's employment start date, their request history, and the business reason being considered for refusal. You get back whether the request is validly made, the deadline for the decision, and whether the refusal reason given actually matches one of the statutory grounds.

## What it does

1. **Use the right it actually is.** The Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023 received Royal Assent and was widely reported as creating a right to request a predictable working pattern, but the Department for Business and Trade confirmed it would not be brought into force, and the Employment Rights Act 2025 formally repeals it. The live route for a worker who wants fixed days, fixed hours, or a different pattern is the existing statutory right to request flexible working, and this skill works with that right rather than one that was never switched on.
2. **Confirm there is no minimum service to clear.** GOV.UK states plainly: "Employees can apply for flexible working from their first day in a job." This became the position under the Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023, which omitted "Regulation 3 (entitlement to make an application)" of the 2014 Regulations, the provision that had required 26 weeks' continuous employment. A manager who turns away a new starter's request on length-of-service grounds is working from a rule that no longer applies.
3. **Count the request against the 12-month limit.** GOV.UK states: "Employees can make 2 applications for flexible working in any 12-month period." A third request inside the same rolling 12 months is not a statutory request in the same sense as the first two, and the business should know which one this is before deciding how formally to treat it.
4. **Run the two-month clock from the day the request is made.** The Act's own explanatory notes describe shortening the decision period "from three months to two months." Track the deadline from the date the written request was received, not from when a manager first reads it, because the clock does not wait for a quiet week.
5. **Check any refusal against the actual statutory list, not a feeling.** Section 80G(1)(b) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 limits a refusal to these grounds: "the burden of additional costs", "detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand", "inability to re-organise work among existing staff", "inability to recruit additional staff", "detrimental impact on quality", "detrimental impact on performance", "insufficiency of work during the periods the employee proposes to work", "planned structural changes", or a ground added later by the Secretary of State. "We've always done it this way" is not on the list, and a refusal letter that does not map to one of these grounds is not using the right most businesses believe they are using when they say no.

## Then it checks

1. The request is confirmed as the live flexible working right, not the repealed predictable-pattern right, before anything else is processed.
2. The worker's start date is recorded and no refusal is based on insufficient length of service.
3. This request is counted against the worker's last 12 months of requests, and the count is stated.
4. The decision deadline is calculated as two months from the date the request was received, and shown.
5. Any refusal reason given is matched against the section 80G(1)(b) list by name, or recorded as not matching any listed ground.

Any check fails: name it, redo that step once. Failed twice: say what is wrong and stop.

## Rules
- Public information only.
- Never invent a fact, a number or a quote.
- Anything sent in someone's name says whose name it is.
- Never describe or build around the Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023 as if it is in force; it is not, and it has been repealed.
- Never accept a refusal reason that does not map to one of the section 80G(1)(b) grounds without flagging it as unmatched.
- Never treat a worker's length of service as a reason to delay or refuse a request; there is none.
- This output is a working document prepared for the owner to check against their own request records and written particulars, and for their adviser to check any refusal before it is sent. It applies the Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023 and the Employment Rights Act 1996 to a specific request; it is not legal advice and it is not confirmation that a refusal is lawful.

## Built from
- The Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2023/1328/made, SI 2023/1328, made 2023, in force 6 April 2024, read 3 November 2026: the removal of the 26-week qualifying period, making this a day-one right, behind step 2.
- GOV.UK, "Applying for flexible working", https://www.gov.uk/flexible-working/applying-for-flexible-working, published by the Department for Business and Trade, no revision date shown on the page, read 3 November 2026: the day-one right and the two-requests-per-12-months limit, behind steps 2 and 3.
- Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023, explanatory notes, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/33/notes/division/2/index.htm, Act of Parliament, read 3 November 2026: the shortened two-month decision period and the consultation-before-refusal requirement, behind step 4.
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 80G, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/section/80G, Act of Parliament, read 3 November 2026: the fixed list of statutory business reasons for refusal, behind step 5.

# flexible-working-request

## You are given
The request as written: date received, worker name, start date of employment, the change requested (days, hours, pattern, location), and the proposed start date for the change. A log of this worker's flexible working requests in the last 12 months, with dates. The business reason being considered for any refusal, as drafted by the manager. Any consultation meeting held before a refusal, with its date.

## Produce
Write into a `./flexible-working-request-output/` folder:

1. `request-validity.csv` with columns: `worker_name`, `employment_start_date`, `request_date`, `days_employed`, `right_used`, `validity_verdict`. `right_used` is always `statutory flexible working request`, never `predictable working pattern`. `validity_verdict` is `valid, no minimum service required` unless a prior refusal in `request-history.csv` was wrongly based on length of service, in which case it is `invalid refusal basis found in history`.
2. `request-history.csv` with columns: `worker_name`, `request_date`, `outcome`, `count_in_rolling_12_months`. One row per request in the supplied history plus this one. `count_in_rolling_12_months` increments per worker.
3. `decision-deadline.csv` with columns: `worker_name`, `request_received_date`, `decision_deadline`, `days_remaining`, `status`. `decision_deadline` is exactly two months after `request_received_date`. `status` is `within deadline`, `deadline today`, or `deadline passed`.
4. `refusal-ground-check.csv` with columns: `worker_name`, `refusal_reason_as_drafted`, `matched_statutory_ground`, `verdict`. `matched_statutory_ground` is one of the nine grounds at section 80G(1)(b) and the regulation-making power, exactly as named in the skill's source, or `no match found`. `verdict` is `matches a statutory ground` or `does not match any statutory ground`.
5. `consultation-log.csv` with columns: `worker_name`, `consultation_held`, `consultation_date`, `held_before_refusal_sent`. `consultation_held` and `held_before_refusal_sent` are `yes` or `no`.
6. `gaps.md` - a numbered list of: any `invalid refusal basis found in history` row; any request where `count_in_rolling_12_months` exceeds 2; any `deadline passed` row; any `does not match any statutory ground` row; and any refusal with `held_before_refusal_sent` of `no`.

## Rules
- Codex counts, matches and checks. It never decides whether a business reason is genuine, and it never drafts the refusal letter itself; it checks the reason given against the fixed statutory list.
- Never refer to or build around the Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023 as a live right; it has not commenced and has been repealed. Any supplied reference to it is recorded in `gaps.md` and redirected to this skill's actual legal basis.
- `decision_deadline` is calculated as exactly two calendar months from `request_received_date`, never estimated or rounded.
- A third or later request within a rolling 12 months is still recorded in `request-history.csv`; it is flagged, never deleted or hidden.
- Use British English and DD Month YYYY dates. No em dashes in any file you write.
- Every file ends with this line: this is a working document prepared for the owner to check against their own request records and written particulars, and for their adviser to check any refusal before it is sent. It applies the Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023 and the Employment Rights Act 1996 to a specific request and is not confirmation that a refusal is lawful.

## Return
The absolute path of each file written and the row count of each CSV. Whether the request is valid and on what right. The count of this worker's requests in the last 12 months. The decision deadline and days remaining. Whether the refusal reason matches a statutory ground, and which one if so. Whether consultation happened before any refusal was sent. The `gaps.md` item count.