Asking for flexible working when AI changes your job (UK)

When AI takes over part of a role, the job that is left may not fill the same hours, or may be done just as well from home. Some people want fewer hours to retrain; others want different times because a new system changed the pattern of work. In England, Wales and Scotland the statutory route is a flexible working request. This page sets out how it works under the Employment Rights Act 1996 as the text stood on 31 October 2026, for employees and for the employers who must answer.

The short answer: any employee can apply to change their hours, their times of work, or where they work as between home and the employer's premises. There is no minimum length of service. They can make two applications in 12 months. The employer must deal with it reasonably, consult the employee before refusing, decide within two months unless both agree to longer, and may refuse only on one of eight listed business grounds. The Employment Rights Act 2025 will also require refusals to be reasonable and explained, but that change was not yet in force.

What you can ask for

A qualifying employee may apply for a change in their terms and conditions that relates to the hours they are required to work, the times they are required to work, or where, as between home and a place of business of the employer, they are required to work (ERA 1996, s80F). The application must say that it is such an application and give the change applied for and the date it should start. An employee may not make more than two applications to the same employer in any 12 months, or a new one while another is still proceeding.

The right belongs to employees; agency workers are generally excluded. The regulation that used to require 26 weeks of service was removed from 6 April 2024 (Flexible Working Regulations 2014, reg 3, as amended). For who counts as an employee, see employee, worker or self-employed.

What the employer must do

Under section 80G the employer must deal with the application in a reasonable manner, must not refuse it unless the employee has been consulted, and must notify the decision within two months of the application, or a longer period they agree (ERA 1996, s80G). It may refuse only because it considers that one or more of these grounds applies:

• the 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.

Two of these often come up when AI is being introduced. "Planned structural changes" may be cited where roles are being redesigned. "Insufficiency of work" may be cited where automation has removed work from certain hours. An employer relying on either should be able to point to the actual plan or data, because a refusal based on incorrect facts can be challenged.

If the request goes wrong

An employee can complain to an employment tribunal that the employer failed to follow section 80G, or that a refusal was based on incorrect facts (ERA 1996, s80H). The complaint must generally be presented within six months of the date it could first be made where that date is on or after 1 October 2026, and three months for earlier cases (SI 2026/954, reg 4), with early conciliation through Acas applying. The tribunal can order the employer to reconsider and award compensation of up to 8 weeks' pay (Flexible Working Regulations 2014, reg 6).

What the Employment Rights Act 2025 changes

Section 9 of the 2025 Act will replace the refusal rule: the employer may refuse only if it considers a listed ground applies and it is reasonable to refuse on that ground, and a refusal must state the ground and explain why the employer considers refusing reasonable (Employment Rights Act 2025, s9). It also lets regulations set the steps an employer must take when consulting. On 31 October 2026 legislation.gov.uk showed section 9 in force only for making regulations (from 6 January 2026), so the current rule above still applied. Check the position before relying on it.

Practical points

• Employees: make the application in writing, say it is a statutory flexible working request, and explain how the change could work alongside the new system. If you want time to retrain, say so; at larger employers there is also a separate right to request time to train. See AI skills worth learning.
• Employers: when a rollout changes roles, expect requests. Meet the employee, look at the real effect on the work, record the reasons and answer within two months. Where shift patterns are set by software, see UK rules on software-set rotas. Where a request leads to part-time hours, see part-time workers' rights. Requests often follow family leave; see maternity and paternity pay, neonatal care leave and, for time off to look after a relative, carer's leave.

Northern Ireland has separate legislation. This page is general information, not legal advice.