Leave and flexible working

Flexible working request: refused letter

Refuses a statutory flexible working request on one or more of the eight permitted grounds, after consultation, with reasons and the right of appeal.

You have met the employee, discussed alternatives, and concluded the request cannot be accommodated. The refusal must rest on one or more of the eight statutory reasons, explain why that reason applies, and be given within the two-month window.

Before it goes

  • You have consulted: a meeting where alternatives to the request, and to refusing it, were genuinely discussed.
  • You have identified which of the eight statutory grounds applies and can explain the facts behind it.
  • You have considered whether the refusal could be discriminatory (childcare requests refused to women, adjustments for disability) and can justify it.

The letter

[COMPANY NAME] [COMPANY ADDRESS] [DATE] [EMPLOYEE NAME] [EMPLOYEE ADDRESS] Dear [EMPLOYEE FIRST NAME], Your flexible working request Thank you for your flexible working request dated [REQUEST DATE], in which you asked to [SUMMARY OF REQUEST, e.g. reduce your hours from 40 to 30 a week, working 08:00 to 14:30 Monday to Friday, from [DATE]]. Thank you also for meeting me on [MEETING DATE] to discuss it; you were accompanied by [COMPANION / you chose not to be accompanied]. I have considered your request carefully, including the reasons you gave for it. I am sorry to tell you that I am unable to agree to it, for the following reason(s) permitted by the Employment Rights Act 1996: [GROUND, e.g. Detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand.] [EXPLANATION IN FACTS, e.g. Your role is the only [ROLE] covering the [SITE] contract, which requires attendance until 17:00 each day under the client's terms. Between 14:30 and 17:00 there would be no cover for [TASKS], and the client has confirmed in writing that this is not acceptable.] [SECOND GROUND AND EXPLANATION, if any.] At our meeting we discussed alternatives, including [ALTERNATIVES, e.g. a four-day week of 08:00 to 17:00, or a 08:00 to 14:30 pattern on three days with two full days, or a change to the [OTHER] role which does not carry the same cover requirement]. [You indicated that … / I would be glad to consider any of these, or anything else you would like to propose, and you are welcome to make a further request within the 12-month period.] You have the right to appeal against this decision. If you wish to appeal, write to [APPEAL MANAGER NAME] at [ADDRESS / EMAIL] within [10] working days of receiving this letter, setting out your grounds. The appeal will be heard by someone not previously involved, and you may be accompanied. Your current terms and conditions continue unchanged. Yours sincerely, [MANAGER NAME] [JOB TITLE] [COMPANY NAME]

Filling it in

The ground
One of the eight, in its statutory words, then the facts that make it true here. "It would not work" is not a ground.
Alternatives
Name what you offered. A refusal with no alternative discussed is a refusal without consultation, and consultation is now a legal requirement.

What the law says

  • Employment Rights Act 1996 s.80G: a request may be refused only for one or more of the eight grounds (burden of additional costs; detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand; inability to reorganise 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), and the employer must consult before refusing.
  • Acas Code of Practice on requests for flexible working (2024): handle reasonably, discuss, consider alternatives, allow an appeal, decide within two months.
  • Equality Act 2010: indirect discrimination and the duty to make reasonable adjustments may be engaged.
Guidance, not legal advice. Employment law moves; check the current position before relying on any of it, and take advice on anything that could end someone's employment.

What turns this letter into a claim

  • Do not refuse without meeting them. Since April 2024 that is a breach of the statutory scheme on its own.
  • Do not refuse a request that is really a disability adjustment on business grounds without considering the Equality Act first.
  • Do not run out of time. Two months from the request to the end of any appeal, unless you agree an extension in writing.

Questions people ask

What are the eight business reasons?

Burden of additional costs; detrimental effect on meeting customer demand; inability to reorganise work among existing staff; inability to recruit additional staff; detrimental impact on quality; detrimental impact on performance; not enough work during the proposed hours; planned structural changes. You must name at least one and explain why it applies.

What can the employee claim if I get it wrong?

A tribunal can order reconsideration and award up to eight weeks' pay for a procedural failure. The larger risk is a discrimination claim if the refusal disproportionately affects, say, women with childcare, and the business reason does not stand up.

Can they make another request straight away?

Two requests in any rolling 12 months. A refused request counts. A different request, or the same one after circumstances change, can be made if they have one left.

The letter, with the names already in

Employ AI drafts letters like this one from the employee's record, so the dates, service and pay are already right, and the disciplinary module writes the invitation and outcome letters from the case itself. All 44 letter families, 49 UK policies, GPS clock-in, rotas, leave and timesheets: £2.50 a month plus £1 per employee. 14 days free, no card.

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