You may have heard stories in the news recently about changes to parental leave and flexible working under the new Children and Families Act 2014. In fact, the right for all employees to request flexible working came into force on June 30 this year, and shared parental leave will be available from April 2015. But what exactly does this mean for staff and employers?

The right to request flexible working is available to all employees who have worked for a company for 26 weeks or more. But it should be stressed that staff aren’t automatically entitled to it - the law just says that employers have a duty to consider requests in a reasonable manner and within three months of receipt.

So what is flexible working? There are many ways of working flexibly and these include job sharing, working from home, working full time hours over fewer days, part-time work, flexi-time, staggered hours (different start, finish and break times from those of your colleagues) and annualised hours (which usually means working some core hours but having flexibility around the rest of the working week). An employer would need to give due consideration to all of these when a request is made.

The key points are that all requests must be made in writing, stating the date of the request and details of any previous applications. Should the request be rejected, the employer has to show a sound business reason, which may include the burden of costs on the business, the inability to reorganise work among existing staff, a detrimental impact on performance, and the ability to meet customer demand or quality. You should also know that only one application can be made in a 12-month period.

Shared parental leave

The other big shake-up under the new act is shared parental leave. This applies to parents of babies due on or after April 5, 2015, and to children placed for adoption on or after this date, so there will already be people to whom this applies.

The change entitles women to return to work early and share the remainder of their maternity leave and pay with their partner. Leave will remain at the statutory maximum - 52 weeks of maternity leave and 39 weeks of pay. So if a mother decided to end her maternity leave after 12 weeks and both she and her partner are eligible, they can share the 40 remaining weeks.

Of course, it isn’t quite that simple. There are two tests which both parents have to pass in order to qualify for shared leave, and they must follow the right procedures too, such as giving the required notice and agreeing on a pattern of leave.

Finally, from October 1, 2014, partners have the right to unpaid time off to attend two ante-natal appointments, with a maximum duration of six and a half hours per appointment, although employers can reasonably refuse this request.

Your employer will have details of this, but you can also visit gov.uk for more information on both flexible working and parental leave.