Asking for time to train when AI changes your job (UK)

When AI changes what a job needs, the people doing it often need time to learn new tools or take a course. In England, Wales and Scotland there is a little-known statutory route for this: the right to request time to undertake study or training, in Part 6A of the Employment Rights Act 1996. This page explains who can use it, the procedure the employer must follow and when it can say no, from the legislation on legislation.gov.uk. It is for employees and for the employers who must answer.

The short answer: an employee with at least 26 weeks' continuous service, working for an employer with 250 or more employees, can make a written request for time to study or train where the purpose is to improve their effectiveness in the business and the business's performance. One request is allowed in 12 months. The employer must meet to discuss it within 28 days and give a written decision within 14 days of the meeting, and may refuse only on listed grounds. It is a right to ask, not a right to be given the time or to be paid for it.

Who can ask

A qualifying employee may make an application to enable them to undertake study or training whose purpose is to improve their effectiveness in the employer's business and the performance of the business (ERA 1996, s63D). The application must say that it is made under section 63D. Agency workers, people of school age and young people covered by the separate duties to stay in education or training are excluded. Some 16 and 17 year olds in Wales and Scotland have a separate right to paid time off; see paid study time for young employees.

• Service: at least 26 weeks of continuous employment (Employee Study and Training (Qualifying Period of Employment) Regulations 2010, reg 2, as made).
• Employer size: the right was brought into force on 6 April 2010 for all purposes except in relation to "small employers", defined as those employing fewer than 250 employees, on average over the previous twelve months (SI 2010/303, Schedule 3). On 31 October 2026 legislation.gov.uk still showed the section as prospective for other purposes, so employees of smaller employers do not have the statutory right.

Nothing stops employers and employees agreeing other arrangements, and many training policies go further than the statute.

The procedure

The Employee Study and Training (Procedural Requirements) Regulations 2010 set the steps (SI 2010/155):

• the employer holds a meeting to discuss the application within 28 days of receiving it, unless it agrees in writing within that time (reg 4);
• it gives written, dated notice of its decision within 14 days of the meeting (reg 5). If it agrees, the notice must set out the subject of the study or training, where and when it will take place, who will provide or supervise it, what qualification it leads to, and whether the employee will be paid for the time (reg 6);
• the employee can appeal a refusal by written notice within 14 days of the decision, and the employer must hold an appeal meeting within 14 days of that notice (regs 8 to 10).

An employer only has to consider one application from the same employee in any 12 months (ERA 1996, s63F), with exceptions, for example where the agreed course was cancelled by the provider.

When an employer can refuse

The employer may refuse all or part of an application only if it thinks one or more of these grounds applies (ERA 1996, s63F(7)):

• the study or training would not improve the employee's effectiveness in the business or the business's performance;
• the burden of additional costs;
• detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand;
• inability to reorganise work among existing staff, or to recruit additional staff;
• detrimental impact on quality or on performance;
• insufficiency of work during the periods the employee proposes to work;
• planned structural changes.

When AI is changing a role, the first ground is the one to watch. A request to learn the system the business is introducing, or skills the redesigned job needs, is hard to refuse on the basis that it would not help the business.

If it goes wrong

An employee can complain to an employment tribunal that the employer did not follow the procedure or the grounds, or that a refusal was based on incorrect facts, generally after an appeal decision (ERA 1996, s63I). The time limit is six months where the relevant date is on or after 1 October 2026, and three months for earlier cases (SI 2026/954, reg 4), with Acas early conciliation applying. The tribunal can order reconsideration and award compensation (ERA 1996, s63J) of up to 8 weeks' pay (SI 2010/156, reg 6, as made).

Practical points

• Employees: put the request in writing, say it is made under section 63D, name the course or training, when and where it happens, any qualification, and how it helps you do the changed job. If you also need different hours, see flexible working requests. For what to learn, see AI skills worth learning.
• Employers: plan training into any AI rollout rather than waiting for requests, and if a request comes, meet within 28 days and record the decision. Where you require staff to train, see mandatory AI training and workers' rights.

Some regulations cited here are shown on legislation.gov.uk only in their original form; check for later changes before relying on them. Northern Ireland has separate legislation. This page is general information, not legal advice.