The member of staff must have worked continuously for the University for not less than 26 weeks at the date of making application.

Statutory Right: staff with children under seventeen, disabled children under eighteen or those who care for certain adults can request to work flexibly, in order to care for them.

Extended Provision: The University has extended this provision to enable all staff to apply to work flexibly.

Where the request is made under the statutory right to care for a child it must be made no later than 2 weeks before the child’s seventeenth birthday or eighteenth birthday if the child is disabled.

Accepted applications to work flexibly under the statutory right will result in a permanent change to the member of staff’s terms and conditions, unless otherwise agreed.

Accepted applications made under the extended provision will be regularly reviewed in line with the business requirements of the University.

Terms and conditions of employment will be applied on a pro-rata basis including: salary/wage; annual leave/bank holidays; occupational sick pay; maternity leave; paternity leave

If the application is made under the statutory provision the member of staff normally must not have made a formal application to work flexibly under the right during the previous 12 months.

Applications can only be refused if there is a clear business reason. For a list of these see Annex 1 of the Policy.

The member of staff has a right to appeal against the decision within 14 days to the next higher level of management, setting out the grounds for appeal – see policy for full details.