Employers are being urged to widen access to flexible working during 2026, ahead of planned changes to employment law that will make flexibility the default unless it can be shown to be unreasonable. A new report from the Work Foundation at Lancaster University suggests that workers with long term health conditions and those in low paid roles are significantly less likely to have access to flexible working arrangements, despite evidence that such measures can support job retention and participation.
The findings are based on a survey of 3,796 working people carried out by the Work Foundation and the Centre for Organisational Health and Well-Being at Lancaster University. They come as the UK enters 2026 with health related economic inactivity close to record levels.
The research shows that the most common forms of flexibility reported by UK workers include having autonomy over how daily tasks are carried out, flexible working hours and the ability to work from different locations, including home. However, workers with long term health conditions were found to be less likely than those without to have access to all three. They were nine percentage points less likely to have autonomy over daily tasks or flexible hours, and twelve percentage points less likely to have flexibility over where they work.
The analysis also highlights a sharp divide linked to pay. Workers earning under 25,000 a year were substantially less likely to report access to flexibility than those earning...
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