News
Apprenticeships, Skills, Children & Learning
Tue 20th Apr 2010
This new legislation will currently only apply to organisations with 250 or more employees.
Under the new regulations an employee will be able to submit a request for time off for training or study which is relevant to the employer's business. The regulations set out the procedures which must be followed by employees and employers when respectively submitting their requests and considering the requests. In addition, they allow for complaints from employees to a tribunal where the procedure has been breached by employers and set a maximum amount for compensation.
The right to request time off for training has been closely modelled on the legislative procedures for the right to request flexible working. Both have a qualifying period of an employee being in service for at least 26 weeks prior to submitting a request and an employee will only be allowed to make one request in a twelve month period.
There is no obligation on the employer to contribute financially to the training or to offer paid leave, although it is thought that employers will in some cases due to the potential return on their investment for the organisation.