Time to Train initiative receives Royal Assent

The Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act has now received Royal Assent, and will bring in a host of new measures, including the Time to Train initiative. The Time to Train initiative will give employees the legal right to request time off from work to undertake training. The introduction of the right will be phased and will be made available to employees in large businesses from April 2010, before being extended to all employees from April 2011.

Once the Act becomes law, it will mean that members of staff are able to make formal requests to their bosses in the same way that they currently do for flexible working. Employers will have to give serious consideration to the request and demonstrate a good business reason for denying it.

Further education minister, Kevin Brennan, said that employers will not be obliged to pay for the training or pay staff’s wages while they are undertaking the training. However, he said that he expected that many businesses would choose to do so anyway.

Further guidance for businesses is expected in January.