Confirmation of time off for training request withdrawal

Use this letter when an employee orally withdraws their application for time off for training as you must give written confirmation that the request has been withdrawn. As well as confirming that the employee has withdrawn their request, this letter sets out to the employee that they will not be eligible to submit another application for another twelve months.

Who has a statutory right to make a request to train?

Eligible employees who work in businesses that employ 250 or more employees have a statutory right to request time off for the purposes of study or training.  

Employees’ requests can be to undertake accredited training programmes leading to a qualification, or for unaccredited training to help them develop specific skills relevant to their job or your business. The provisions are flexible as to the type and manner of training.  For example, it can be undertaken at your premises or elsewhere, while performing the employee’s job duties or separately, can be provided or supervised by you or externally by a third party such as a local college, can be undertaken without supervision (e.g. e-learning), can be accredited or unaccredited and it need not be intended to lead to the award of a recognised qualification.  There is also no limit on the amount of time or training that an employee may request, and they may include more than one course of training in one request.

To make a statutory time to train request, an employee must:

• have worked for you for a continuous period of at least 26 weeks at the date of request
• subject to limited exceptions, not have made another application for time to train during the previous twelve months.

Some groups do not have the right to request time to train including agency workers, children of compulsory school age and young people aged 16 to 18 years old who are already under a duty to participate in education or training.

Use our Time to Train Application Form to ensure that the employee includes the required information when making their request.

Withdrawn request

If an employee later orally withdraws their request, you must then confirm to them in writing that they’ve withdrawn it. Use our Confirmation of Time Off for Training Request Withdrawal here. Our letter not only confirms that the employee has withdrawn their request, it also advises them that they will not now be eligible to submit another application under the statutory scheme for twelve months.