Flexible Working Policy

This Flexible Working Policy gives eligible employees an opportunity to request a change to their working pattern.

ILF Scotland will deal with flexible working requests in a reasonable manner and within a reasonable time. In any event the time between making a request and notifying you of a final decision (including the outcome of any appeal) will be no more than two months unless we have agreed a longer period with you.

This policy does not form part of any employee's contract of employment and we may amend it at any time.

Eligibility

To be eligible to make a flexible working request, you must:

• be an employee
• not have made two flexible working requests during the last 12-months (even if you withdrew those requests)

What is a Flexible Working Request?

A flexible working request under this policy means a request to do any or all of the following:

• to reduce or vary your working hours
• to reduce or vary the days you work
• to work from a different location (for example, from home)

Making a Flexible Working Request

Your flexible working request should be submitted to ILF Scotland in writing and dated. It should:

• state that it is a flexible working request
• explain the change being requested and propose a start date
• state whether you have made any previous flexible working requests

Meeting

ILF Scotland will arrange a meeting at a convenient time and place to discuss your request. You may be accompanied at the meeting by a colleague of your choice. They will be entitled to speak and confer privately with you but may not answer questions on your behalf.

ILF Scotland may decide to grant your request in full without a meeting, in which case we will write to you with our decision.

Decision

ILF Scotland will inform you in writing of our decision after the meeting.

If your request is accepted, ILF Scotland will write to you with details of the new working arrangements and the date on which they will commence. You will be asked to sign and return a copy of the letter. Unless otherwise agreed, changes to your terms of employment will be permanent.

If your request cannot be immediately granted, ILF Scotland may require you to undertake a trial period before reaching a final decision on your request. However, ILF Scotland is not obliged to offer a trial period and we may refuse your request without one.

ILF Scotland may reject your request for one or more of the following business reasons:

• 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 that you propose to work
• planned changes

If ILF Scotland is unable to agree to your request, we will write to tell you which of those reasons applies in your case.

Appeal

You may appeal in writing within 14 days of receiving the written decision. This includes a decision following a trial period.

Your appeal must be dated and must set out the grounds on which you are appealing.

ILF Scotland will hold a meeting with you to discuss your appeal. You may bring a colleague to the meeting.

ILF Scotland will tell you in writing of the final decision after the appeal meeting, including reasons. There is no further right of appeal.

Records

We will process your data in relation to this policy for legitimate business purposes. We will also retain records of any correspondence, reports, meetings and associated documentation in relation to this policy. Such records will be retained in accordance with our Data Retention Schedule.