16 May 2008, 12:56 PM
  • The Prime Minister’s planned extension of the right to request flexible working together with new rules on agency workers could create an employment nightmare for small business owners, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) warns.

Alan Tyrrell, FSB employment chairman, says, “The announcement puts small businesses in an impossible position. You can’t have an extension of flexible working and at the same time clamp down on the means by which many small businesses cope with it, which is often through temporary workers.”

Although over 90% of requests for flexible working have been granted, the planned extension of the rules to parents of older children will dramatically increase the number of qualifying employees. The FSB warned that changes to the rules on agency workers would only add to the problems faced by employers looking to cover fragmented job posts.

Mr Tyrrell adds, “The current flexible working regime seems to be working, but the Government should be cautious about extending it too far, which could be damaging to small businesses and, as a result, the millions of people they employ. Bringing in a whole new set of complicated employment regulations for temporary workers on top of that could make the situation untenable for many small businesses.”

However, it seems not everyone will be affected in the same way. At Barrington’s Deli, for example, owner, Julia Tomasyan, doesn’t feel the PM’s plans will have too much of an impact on her business. She says, “At the moment all my staff work set hours on a part-time basis, so flexible working is not really an issue for me. I don’t think it would be any more of a problem if the scheme was extended.”