April 2010:  Introduction in the UK, of a new amendment to the UK Employment Rights Act, 1996, namely, the for employees to request time off for training. This will initially only affect businesses with 250 or more employees, however, all business will be affected from April 2011, so now is the time to prepare for this.

An employee can request time off to undertake training, which can be accredited leading to a qualification or unaccredited training to help employees develop specific skills relevant to their job, workplace or business. 

To make a request for time off to train, an individual must be an employee and have continually worked for his or her employer for at least 26 weeks on the date that the request is made.  

The procedure is similar to that for requesting flexible working in that it must be in writing and contain certain information which includes the subject matter of the proposed training or study, where proposed training or study would take place and when, who would provide the training and/or supervise it, whether or not it would lead to a qualification, and if so what qualification and how the employee thinks the proposed training or study would improve his or her effectiveness in the business.

Upon receipt of the request, the employer must hold a meeting to discuss the request. The meeting must be held within 28 days of receiving a valid request, after which the employer either accepts the request on the basis of the information set out in the written request or hold the meeting, and then within 14 days of that meeting inform the employee of the decision. 

At a meeting the employee has a statutory right to be accompanied by a fellow work colleague. An employer may reject the request for one of a number of specific business reasons.

The employee also has the right to appeal against the employer’s decision. An employee will only have the right to make one request for time off for training per year. Employees will not have the right to be paid during time off for training.

Interpretation by Peter Mooney, Head of Consultancy, Employment Law Advisory Services, 26th April 2010

Flow chart for considering Time To Train requests

For more detailed FAQ's see LGE website