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Reducing hours at work

crosswords
Posts: 5 Forumite

My Mum wants to reduce her hours at work but they have refused. She is now of retirement age. My sister is of the understanding that once retirement age has been reached they *must* agree to her request. I'm struggling to find anything online that states this, just various people saying they only have to give it reasonable consideration.
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Your mother has the right to request reduced hours or flexible working, but the employer doesn’t have to agree, only give reasonable consideration, regardless of her age.1
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There is no law that states your employer has to agree. There is a law stating you have a right to request it and it must be considered. They should give an explanation of the reasons behind their decision. Just saying "business need" is not sufficient. However, ultimately it is the employer's decision.Never, ever give up........1
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There are often rules that state if you take the workplace pension and continue working for the same employer you HAVE to reduce your hours or seniority, does that apply in this case?2
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la531983 said:There are often rules that state if you take the workplace pension and continue working for the same employer you HAVE to reduce your hours or seniority, does that apply in this case?0
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crosswords said:My Mum wants to reduce her hours at work but they have refused. She is now of retirement age. My sister is of the understanding that once retirement age has been reached they *must* agree to her request. I'm struggling to find anything online that states this, just various people saying they only have to give it reasonable consideration.
There is an age when you get your state pension but nothing to stop you retiring from work before or after that.
In the past there was a kind of understanding between employees and employers to retire at 65 but there is no legal enforcement of that.
Your Mum's employer maybe insisting that she keeps to normal hours in the hope that she does retire?
Or it could just be they are very busy, or just plain awkward....2 -
la531983 said:There are often rules that state if you take the workplace pension and continue working for the same employer you HAVE to reduce your hours or seniority, does that apply in this case?
The other thing to think about is - have others been allowed to reduce their hours and if so, when and why? If a woman asked for her hours to be reduced due to child care and was allowed then they couldn't reasonably refuse a man asking for the same reasons - unless there was a strong business case (aka only room for 1 person to do this and the woman happened to ask first). Likewise if a young parent was allowed a reduction due to child care and your mom needed a reduction due to elder care that should be considered on an equal basis.
These things are much easier to arrange in large companies where if 1 department can't allow it for staffing reasons then there's a possibility of moving to a different team where there is wiggle room. If it's a very small company there is often much less flexibility as a change for 1 person has a bigger impact overall.I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on Debt Free Wannabe and Old Style Money Saving boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.
"Never retract, never explain, never apologise; get things done and let them howl.” Nellie McClung
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There is a rule with CS pension that if you take it and continue to work you are not allowed to earn more than your full time wage altogether but thats not relevant to whether an employer can accommodate the reduction in hours, its entirely separate and a CS employer can still say no to part time hours if there are business reasons."You've been reading SOS when it's just your clock reading 5:05 "2
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Albermarle said:crosswords said:My Mum wants to reduce her hours at work but they have refused. She is now of retirement age. My sister is of the understanding that once retirement age has been reached they *must* agree to her request. I'm struggling to find anything online that states this, just various people saying they only have to give it reasonable consideration.
There is an age when you get your state pension but nothing to stop you retiring from work before or after that.
In the past there was a kind of understanding between employees and employers to retire at 65 but there is no legal enforcement of that.
Your Mum's employer maybe insisting that she keeps to normal hours in the hope that she does retire?
Or it could just be they are very busy, or just plain awkward....0 -
crosswords said:My Mum wants to reduce her hours at work but they have refused. She is now of retirement age. My sister is of the understanding that once retirement age has been reached they *must* agree to her request. I'm struggling to find anything online that states this, just various people saying they only have to give it reasonable consideration.1
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Brie said:la531983 said:There are often rules that state if you take the workplace pension and continue working for the same employer you HAVE to reduce your hours or seniority, does that apply in this case?
I've seen provisions in private sector schemes where early retirement (on terms better than those which would apply in deferment) would only be agreed to if the employee is also leaving service.Googling on your question might have been both quicker and easier, if you're only after simple facts rather than opinions!0
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