Foster carers can also request flexible working

The definition of "adopter" will expand to also include overseas adoptions and adoptions by relatives under the Work and Families Act 2006. There is no change in the law for parents who are eligible to request flexible working to care for a child up to the age of six, or up to the age of 18 for a child who is registered disabled.

To be eligible, the adopter or carer must have worked in your employment continuously for 26 weeks, not be an agency worker and not have made another application to work flexibly during the past 12 months.

Employers have a legal duty to "seriously consider" their employee's request - which must meet all application criteria - and follow a set procedure, which is the same as that for handling requests from parents of young children.

Requests may only be refused under one of eight specified business reasons. Further information on managing flexible working can be found on the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform website - link above/right.