Following in the footsteps of the right to request flexible working, the Government has recently published its proposals on a new right for employees to request time off for training.

The core proposal is that employees with at least 26 weeks continuous service would have the right to ask their employer to allow them time away from their job to undertake relevant training.  The right will apply to any training that helps an employee be more productive and effective at work and that helps their employer to improve productivity and business performance.

The new right will operate in a similar way to the current right to request flexible working, in that employers will have to properly consider any requests but will be able to reject them for one or more acceptable business reasons. Employers will not have to pay employees for the time spent training, or for the cost of any training course.

It is proposed that this new legislation will be in place by 2010. The Government estimates that 400,000 applications will be made each year and that around three quarters will be granted.

A copy of the consultation paper is available here and the deadline to submit any comments is 10 September 2008.

Posted: July 4th, 2008 under Employment/HR.
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