When people talk about grandparents helping out with the grandchildren, the traditional scenario involved the grandparents being retired. But, with pension ages rising, grandparents may find themselves juggling jobs and childcare.
The increases in state retirement age and the possibility of working past that age means that many grandparents now work as well as help with childcare. Flexible working may ease this new combination of career and grandparenting.
Any employee with 26 weeks’ continuous service can ask to work flexibly for any reason – provided he or she has not made a request in the past year. However, grandparents - like other employees - should be aware of two important points. First, it’s only a right to request flexible working. Secondly, any changes agreed to your working pattern are permanent: you can’t revert to previous hours when your grandchildren start school.
If you are thinking of applying for flexible working, there are practical ways to give your request the best chance of success:
- Set out in writing what the request is for, when it will start and how flexible working might work. Think through problems and how they might be resolved.
- Offer to work a trial period to let your employer see how it will suit everyone.
- Be prepared to discuss alternative arrangements to address your employer’s concerns. If you meet your employer to discuss it, take along a colleague to help you put your case.
- If your request is refused, ask for reasons in writing and remember that requests can only be refused on limited grounds. These include additional costs, the inability to reorganise work among existing staff or detrimental effect on meeting customer demand.
- Appeal a refusal if you believe it is inappropriate. Make sure your employer has made the effort to fully understand your proposal and weigh up the needs of you and the business.
If your request is refused, you can make another request after a year, at which point changes in the business may elicit a more favourable response. But taking professional advice at an earlier stage – either before you apply, or before you appeal – could avoid the need for a year’s wait.
Remember too that your children (and the grandchildren’s other grandparents) also have a right to request flexible working. Synchronised requests may be the way forward: if one request fails, the others may succeed.
