Flexible working rights were introduced in 2003 and the right has been extended since then to include adult relatives, partners/spouses and certain other adult categories. Employment solicitors also see claims for flexible working connected to sex discrimination claims.
For parents of a child under 17 (or a disabled child under 18) if you are the biological or adoptive parent, foster or guardian parent or the partner of such a parent and have the responsibility of upbringing the child, then you are entitled to request a flexible work pattern. Flexible working allows you to request a work pattern that suits your needs, from part time work to flexi time or job sharing or working from home, as examples.
To qualify you have to have worked for your employer for 6 months and not made another application in the last 12 months. The employer must seriously consider any application and only reject it, if there are good business reasons for doing so. The difficulty is that it may be easy for the employer in practice to find a good business reason to reject such applications. The right is not an entitlement to work flexibly. It is only a right to request flexible working.
If an employer breaches the procedure the maximum award is eight weeks pay subject to a statutory cap. An employer should be aware that by rejecting a request they may be subject to a discrimination claim as well as a claim relating to the flexible working and consequently there is no limit on compensation.
If you are successful then it may permanently change your contract of employment.