For many leaders, requests for flexible working feel like a procedural hurdle to process and often decline. But the passage in December of the Employment Rights Act marks a significant shift in how flexible working requests must be handled. Having a blanket policy of no flexible working is not a safe approach. Schools can still refuse flexible working requests, and the eight statutory grounds for doing so remain in place. To summarise, flexible working has not become an automatic yes, but saying no has become harder.