Letter revoking trial flexible working arrangement

At the end of a flexible working trial period, you will either wish to confirm or revoke it, according to whether it’s been successful or not. Use our letter revoking trial flexible working arrangement to withdraw it and to provide for the employee to revert to their previous working pattern and terms and conditions of employment.

Unsuccessful trial period

Towards the end of a trial period of a flexible working arrangement, you should meet with the employee to openly discuss how it has gone for both parties and then, assuming the employee still wishes to make the flexible working arrangement permanent, you need to make a business decision. Either you will agree to continue it on a permanent basis because you are of the view that the trial period was a sufficient success, or you will want to revoke it because it has been unsuccessful and just has not worked to meet the needs of the business. Our Letter Revoking Trial Flexible Working Arrangement confirms that you have decided the arrangement is not sustainable in the business and so will finish at the end of the trial period (or immediately if that date has already passed). You are legally entitled to insist that the employee reverts to their original working pattern, and their previous terms and conditions of employment, at the end of the trial period and so our letter confirms this will happen. There are two important points to note here:

1. As you are now rejecting the employee’s flexible working application, you should provide the business reasons for rejection in the same way as if you had rejected the application at the outset. This is covered in our letter.
2. As this is now a rejection of the employee’s application, we recommend that you still offer a right of appeal against your decision. We have provided for this.