The survey of 158 MPs and more than 2,000 members of the public found that 86% and 78%, respectively, thought that encouraging a flexible labour force was important in stimulating economic growth.

They also agreed that flexible working had been a vital tool for organisations during the economic downturn, with just under three-quarters (71%) of the public and four-fifths of MPs (78%) believing that those companies who adopted flexible working had come out of the recession better than they would have otherwise. Political commentators have noted that the UK employments rates were supported by employees adopting changes to their terms and conditions during the recession. This highlights the flexibility of the UK workforce, and that flexible working legislation is a key tool in employees accessing a change to their working regime.

The PCG and the REC have called on the Government to implement the following measures to encourage flexible working:

• a simplified tax system, which rewards flexible work and doesn't penalise it;
• a review of the Agency Workers Regulations after they have been in force for a year to ensure they do not negatively affect the market inthe long term; and
• a universal credit and pensions system, in which pensions are more portable and easier to administer for flexible workers.

At present, the Flexible Working legislation provides for parents of children under 16 years old or 18 if the child id disabled. Legislation extending the right to request flexible working to all UK employees is likely to be introduced in April 2012, which will, of course, be a pivotal driver in the number of employees applying for the scheme.

The ability of organisations to approve employees to change their terms and conditions is relatively straight forward – rather, if the company wishes to turn down the application they are bound to provide reasons from set criteria. It is then, perhaps more applicable to look at other factors that cause organisations to turn down Flexible Working applications.

The main barrier appears to be concerns over the effectiveness of a 'distributed team'. In a recent BIS survey, 43% of respondents said they feared that outside of a shared office environment, effective teamwork and employee morale will suffer as staff feel isolated from their colleagues. These concerns appear more prevalent among SMEs than larger companies. According to Management Today, a similar poll of FTSE 100 companies showed that 69% were prepared to offer flexible working to staff. This may be attributed to organisational systems – such as implementing time recording systems – which can be prove expensive and inefficient in smaller organisations.