A Flexible Working Bill, which would mean all staff would be entitled to flexible working from day one of employment, has been read to the House of Commons by Labour MP Tulip Siddiq.

At present, employees must have worked for the same employer for a minimum of 26 weeks to be eligible to make a flexible working request. Under the new Bill, employers would be required to offer flexible working arrangements in employment contracts and to explain what flexibility is available when advertising job vacancies.

The Shadow Minister for Education used statistics to show that, since 2020, just 17% of job vacancies in the UK accommodated flexible working. She asserted that passing this Bill would have a variety of benefits on the wider economy and particularly for marginalised groups, including those who are on low incomes. She said:

“There is also the benefit that there is a wider talent pool of people to pick from once employers have advertised flexible working. But overall the impact of flexible working is mostly on women — that is something that we cannot deny. In this country, the responsibilities for childcare and looking after children largely fall on women. The statistics show that if women can flexibly work and go back to their jobs, they are twice as likely not to quit their jobs after they have had a child, and to go back to their careers. Men can work flexibly, too, and the statistics show that women are twice as likely to excel in their career if their husband is helping them with childcare. McKinsey has pointed out that if we fully utilise women in the UK economy, by 2030 we would be adding £150bn to our economy. A lot of that depends on widening flexible working and making sure people buy into it.”

Siddiq went on to say that, despite the benefits, there still is not a culture of flexible working in this country.

“The problem is that companies can use a wide range of business reasons for not granting a request for flexible working. The problem is that companies are given a blank cheque. They are not told they will face some sort of legal restriction if they say people cannot work flexibly. There is no point saying that Coronavirus has completely changed office work culture and that everyone will be able to work flexibly from now on.”

Siddiq is adamant that it should not be left up to individual organisations to make their own decisions about flexible working, adding:

“We have to bring in robust legislation if we want to change the culture and if we want to make some amount of change. We in this Parliament have the privilege of changing the law so that flexible working becomes something that everyone can enjoy and to which everyone has the right, not just the privileged few who have the perk of enjoying it.”

The Bill will be read a second time on Friday 19 November.