UK employers will have to meet staff face to face and explain any refusal of a flexible working request
Speaking to the Trades Union Congress in Brighton on 15 September 2026, First Secretary of State Louise Haigh announced that the government “will strengthen the right to flexible working”. Her wording on what changes was precise: “If an employer wants to turn down a request… They will have to sit down with their employee… Properly consider it… And explain why.”
Haigh framed the change against the limits of it in the same passage: “Not every job can be done from home… And not every request can be agreed. But every request can and should be taken seriously.” The speech names no commencement date and no legislative vehicle, and it does not create a right to work from home. What it proposes to raise is the evidential standard an employer must meet when refusing – a documented meeting and a written justification – on top of the existing statutory framework.
Why this matters
Under the current rules an employer can refuse a flexible working request on one of the statutory business grounds, and the practical experience for many people has been a short email citing one of them with no discussion. Requiring a meeting and a written explanation changes what you are entitled to receive when the answer is no, which is the part that matters if you later want to challenge the decision or renegotiate.
It does not change the grounds on which an employer can refuse. If you are planning to request home or hybrid working from a UK employer, build your case on the business grounds as they stand, and treat the coming change as improving the process rather than the odds.
Context
Tabloid coverage of the speech framed it as bosses losing the ability to refuse working from home. The GOV.UK text does not support that reading. The existing right already requires consultation before refusal and a decision within two months, so this is a tightening of what “properly consider” means in practice.
Our guide to UK flexible working rights sets out the current grounds for refusal and how the request process works today.
What to watch
The commencement date and the legislative vehicle are both unconfirmed. National press reporting attributes the Employment Rights Act 2025 and a next-year start to unnamed officials, and neither appears in the published speech. Watch for draft regulations being laid before assuming a date.