Time to train
With effect from April 2010, employees with more than 26 weeks’ continuous service with a large business (defined as employing 250 or more employees) will have the legal right to request time away from their core duties to undertake any training that will “help them to be more productive and effective at work, and that helps their employer to improve productivity and business performance”.
It is anticipated that the right will be extended to
employees of smaller businesses from April 2011.
The procedure for requesting time off to train or
study is similar to the flexible working procedure.
Employers are only obliged to consider one request
from an employee in any 12-month period. The
process is triggered when an employee submits a
valid request for time off to train or study. For an
application to be valid, it must be in writing and
contain the following information.