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Flexible working request to your employer (Northern Ireland)
Northern Ireland · in English · for employees
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For an employee in Northern Ireland with 26 weeks' service who wants to change their hours, days or place of work — part-time, compressed hours, home or hybrid working: a dated written application under Article 112F of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996, giving your present pattern, the change, when it should start and its likely effect on the business, and saying you have made no other request in the last 12 months. The employer must meet you within 28 days. Hand it in and email it.
- Made for use in Northern Ireland
- Last updated October 29, 2026
- Document in English
Where a UK document reproduces the words of legislation or of a government publication — UK, Scottish or Northern Irish — it contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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When to use this document
- You want to go part-time after coming back from maternity leave in Northern Ireland.
- You want to work from home a few days a week and ask for it formally.
- Caring for a relative means you need to start and finish work earlier.
- You want to make a statutory flexible working request to your employer.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Employee
- Employee's address
- Town or city
- Employee's postcode
- Date
- Person at your employer you are writing to, as you would greet them (e.g. Priya Patel)
- Employer
- Employer's postal address (street and number, postcode and town on separate lines)
- Your working pattern now (hours, days, place)
- The change you are asking for (hours, days, place)
- Date you would like the change to start
- The effect you think the change would have on the business, and how it could be dealt with
- Reasons or how the change could work, if you want to give them (optional)
- Date of that earlier request (only if there was one)
Common questions
- Who can make a statutory flexible working request in Northern Ireland, and how often?
- An employee with 26 weeks' continuous employment, once in any 12 months (Article 112F of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996). The application must be in writing and dated, say that it is made under that Article, describe the change and when it should start, explain the effect you think it would have on the business and how that could be dealt with, and say whether and when you made an earlier one. The Labour Relations Agency's guide ‘Flexible Working: The Right to Request and Duty to Consider’ is free.
- On what grounds can an employer in Northern Ireland refuse flexible working?
- Only for one or more of the business reasons the law lists (Article 112G of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996): extra costs; harm to meeting customer demand; inability to reorganise work among existing staff; inability to recruit extra staff; harm to quality; harm to performance; not enough work at the times proposed; planned structural changes. The employer must give the reason in writing and explain why it applies.
- What happens after I make a flexible working request in Northern Ireland?
- Unless the employer agrees at once, it must meet you within 28 days and give you its decision in writing within 14 days after the meeting. If it refuses, you can appeal in writing within 14 days. If the employer does not follow the procedure or refuses for a reason outside the list, you can complain to an industrial tribunal after early conciliation with the Labour Relations Agency, normally within three months; the award is up to eight weeks' pay, with a week's pay capped at £783 from April 2026.
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
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