Part-time working requests and DWP Policy & Procedure

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Policy, procedure and advice

DWP Policy, Procedure, Advice for Working Hours and Working Patterns, together with a   Guide for Managers, is published on the DWP intranet. These documents provide the process for part-time working requests, including requesting a change to full-time hours.

All employees are entitled to apply

All employees with at least 26 weeks reckonable service in DWP are entitled to apply to change their working hours or working pattern twice a year. In exceptional cases line managers have discretion to accept applications within the first 26 weeks and further applications in under a year. (DWP Procedure 3)

Employees may apply to vary their employment contract if they wish to change the hours they are required to work, or when and sometimes where they are required to work them. In particular employees can apply for:

·         Part-time working

·         Part-year working (e.g. working term-time only)

·         Job-sharing

·         Compressed hours

·         Homeworking

·         Full-time working

Application for change

DWP Procedure paragraph 4 provides the requirements for applications. The employee must apply to the manager in writing, stating:

·         Whether they are applying under the Statutoryscheme (see DWP Policy paragraphs 18-19)

·        The date of their last application (if any)

·        The new working pattern (or cycle if it changes over two or more weeks) they are applying to work

·        What effect they feel their proposal will have on their business area (for example by reference to the working patterns of their colleagues in the same team)

·        How they believe the effects of their changed working pattern can be handled to meet their needs, their colleagues' needs and the needs of the business

·        The date when they would like the new working pattern to start, giving a minimum of six weeks’ notice of that date. It is helpful, for administrative purposes, for changes to take effect from a Monday date, where possible

Considering an application

DWP managers have a duty to seriously consider the request and may agree applications without need for a meeting. If the request cannot be immediately agreed: 

·         A meeting must be arranged  to discuss the application (Procedure 5)

·         The employee must be offered the option of being accompanied at the meeting by a Trade Union Rep or work colleague (Procedures 6).

Managers can reject a request only on a number of specific grounds, as specified under DWP Procedure paragraph 9:

·         Burden of additional costs

·         A detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand

·         No scope to reorganise work among existing employees

·         No scope to recruit additional employees

·         A detrimental effect on quality

·         A detrimental effect on performance

·         A lack of sufficient work during the periods the applicant proposes to work

·         Planned structural changes

It is not good enough to simply refuse a request for “business reasons”, or without a formal meeting, or simply give one or more of the reasons listed above, without a sufficient explanation as to how such grounds for refusal actually apply in the employee’s case.

Decision Makers Guide

Standards for decision makers and appeal managers when making decisions are detailed in the Decision Makers’ Guide.

Managing Working Patterns Guide

The Managing Working Patterns – Guide for Managers is “a tool for assisting managers” and should not be used as a substitute for DWP Policy and Procedures or Law. This Guide is biased towards “business reasons” for refusing applications. Such refusals must only be applied with a sufficient explanation as to how such grounds for refusal actually apply in the employee’s case. 

Statutory scheme

The terms of the statutory scheme are detailed under DWP Policy paragraphs 18-19. Anyone can ask to work flexibly under DWP Working Hours and Working Patterns Policy, but the statutory right to do so is restricted to:

·         Employees

·         With 26 weeks service

·         Having not made another application under this right within the previous 12 months

·         Caring for an adult who is married to or the partner or civil partner, relative or living at the same address as the employee; or

·         Is, or is the partner of, the mother, father, adopter, guardian or foster parent of a child and has (or expects to have) parental responsibility for the child.

The statutory right is a right to request flexible working which may only be refused after a formal meeting, with the right to be accompanied by a Trade Union Rep or work colleague and one or more of the statutory grounds for refusal apply. These grounds match the reasons for refusal under DWP Procedure paragraph 9.

Normally permanent changes

Any agreed change will normally be a permanent change to the employee’s contracted working hours or working pattern unless the manager’s decision is to accept the change only for a specific stated period, at the end of which the employee must revert to their previous working hours. (Procedure 3.5)

Right of Appeal

Employees have a right to raise a grievance and appeal against refusal of their request, under the DWP Formal Grievance and Appeal Procedures, with the right to be accompanied.