Today, flexible working comes into place. Is your business ready? We’ll also look at the top stories which include the impact of the World Cup and how the Bank of England may be blocking business loans.

Top news stories

Vince Cable hits out at Bank of England blocking reforms to increase business loans

He said that banks had warned that business lending was unlikely to increase while capital requirement rules treat business customers as a higher risk than mortgage borrowers.

UK sales slow despite the World Cup

British retail sales fell last month for the first time since January. Retail sales volumes dropped 0.5% on the month to show worse-than-expected growth of 3.9% year on year.

Infographic: the UK small business landscape

Here’s the lowdown on UK small businesses, from growth rates and turnover to patents and export.

Five-year-olds encouraged to set up businesses

Yes, really. New government plans hope to inject entrepreneurship into UK schools.

What might your business look like in 2030?

From cloud and automation to social connections and human-curation, here’s a look at where it might all be headed. (No hoverboards though!)

Key dates for your diary

Today: flexible working comes into place more widely.

Are you ready for flexible working?

From today, it’s not just parents who have the right to flexible working. Now all staff who have been  employed continuously for 26 weeks can ask for flexible working. And employers have a statutory duty to consider applications.

According to research by YouGov, it’s expected that 26% of employees may take up this opportunity. So what should you do to be ready?

Get a process in place

It’s easier for the business and for staff if there’s a standard process to go through to make the request. This ensures all requests are dealt with consistently. It should cover:

• How to make a request. The employee must do this in writing and their request should include when they want it to start and what type of flexible working they are requesting. Each member of staff can make a request once every 12 months.
• What the process is for considering the request
• How staff will be informed
• How to appeal

Make sure you can meet the timescales

Under the legislation, employers need to complete the process within 3 months of the date of application. This includes any appeals. You can extend this timescale if the employee agrees.

If you receive more than one request, they should be dealt with in the order they are received.

Understand when you can refuse requests

There are only certain reasons to refuse requests. These are:

1. The burden of any additional costs is unacceptable to the organisation.
2. An inability to reorganise work among existing staff.
3. Inability to recruit additional staff.
4. The employer considers the change will have a detrimental impact on quality.
5. The employer considers the change would have a detrimental effect on the business’ ability to meet customer demand.
6. Detrimental impact on performance.
7. There is insufficient work during the periods the employee proposes to work.
8. Planned structural changes, for example, where the employer intends to reorganise or change the business and considers the flexible working changes may not fit with these plans.

If the request is granted, it becomes a permanent change to the contract of employment.

For more information about flexible working, visit the Government website.