New rights for carers

EFA welcome the change in the law which means that from 6th April anyone with caring responsibilities will have the right to request flexible working.

Flexible working law enables parents with a child under 6 or a disabled child under 18 to make a request for flexible working, and places a duty on employers to consider such requests seriously and only reject them for good business reasons. From 6 April 2007 the law will extend the right to request flexible working to carers of adults.

Sam Mercer, Chief Executive of the Employers Forum on Age comments: ìThis is great news for employees in their 40ís, 50ís and 60ís who increasingly have caring responsibilities and once forced to leave work to support elderly relatives often find it difficult to return after their relative has died.î

ìOverall employers need to get much better at extending flexible working opportunities and the experience from those who already offer this solution is positive; it is often easier to offer flexible working than they first imagine and the impact on employee relations and the ability to retain key employees brings significant business advantage.î