Ms Patricia King:

Some employers are not coming forward with ideas and propositions. Workers are not picking up that there would be a positive response to an application. In those circumstances, there is a fear that if they make the application, they will be refused. It is, therefore, important that we have the backdrop of legislation which allays those fears. Our point at the moment is that this proposed legislation is not going to reduce that fear. That is what we need to do. If legislation took account of the objective grounds and stated that if an employer refuses to grant it, that decision can be appealed, we would have a far better pitch that would assuage the fear of employees. There is no point in me saying that some progressive employers are in favour of this and, because of their own interests, likely to concede remote working. That is where they will build their own policies.

In the private sector, where workers are organised and represented, and a collective agreement can be built, they can make arrangements themselves collectively with their employers and this is how they will handle the prospect of remote working. There are swathes of the private sector that are not organised. As the committee knows, collective bargaining is not recognised.