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However, potentially the most far-reaching step of all to be taken by central Government in recent times was also set in stone last month – legislation allowing workers to seek radical changes in their working conditions with a view to enabling them to spend more time at home with their young children.

In a nutshell, working parents who have children under the age of six (or in the case of disabled children under 18 years of age) will be entitled to ask their employers for the right to vary their working conditions in some way (eg working fixed shifts so as to ensure that they can be at home for their children at a set time each day).

However, that right only extends to asking for the privilege. The employer will be within its rights to turn that request down provided that the reason given for doing so is grounded in a solid, business-related motive. For example, it isn't sufficient for the employer to refuse the request by insisting that the terms of the employee's existing contract be respected.

Requests under these new regulations are going to become a standard feature of the workplace environment. All employers are likely to be affected directly by them sooner or later. To help them out, there are a few basic questions that need to be answered...

Who benefits from the new rights?
First of all, an applicant needs to be an employee of the firm – someone who works for the firm in any self-employed capacity doesn't count – and to have been employed continuously for 26 weeks at the date of any application. Then, the applicant must be the mother, father, adopter, legal guardian or foster parent of the child, or the spouse or 'partner' of a person who meets one of these criteria.

In other words, an individual need not be the biological parent of the child in order to take advantage of the new right: as long as they're the spouse or partner of someone who is the natural parent (or the adopter, guardian or foster parent) then they can apply.

What, exactly, can they propose? The basic right is for an employee to request a variation of his or her terms and conditions of employment. There are no limits in terms of exactly what sort of changes individual workers may propose – other than that it must be in writing on a pro-forma form – and it's very much up to them to specify exactly what sort of variation they're looking for. Their chances of securing the employer's agreement will be better if no unreasonable demands are made.

In making their application, they must also suggest to their employer how they think the requested variation might be accommodated.

As a security manager, if you receive an application of this nature you must convene a meeting with the employee to discuss the request within 28 days of receiving it. Then, within 14 days of that meeting, you must write to the employee and formally agree to the proposal – specifying the date on which the variation is to take effect.

Alternatively, you can choose to reject the proposal (in which case you must explain your decision, and inform the applicant of the appeals procedures in place).

What rights does the employer have to reject the employee's request? Refusals can only be made on prescribed, business-related grounds (which are set out in the Employment Act 2002). There are eight of these grounds in all – including additional costs to the employer, inability to reorganise work among existing staff and insufficiency of workload during the times that the worker proposes to work.

If you refuse an application from a member of the security team, you must offer an adequate explanation in return. Do not simply identify the specific grounds on which you are turning the request down.

Note that there is no exemption from the rules for firms with fewer employees. Thus, in theory at least, even the smallest employer could have to face an application under the new rules. That said, though, it's likely to be easier for a smaller-scale employee to be able to rely on the business exemptions than it is for a larger company.

An employee who's dissatisfied with the refusal, and the reasons subsequently given for that refusal, nonetheless has a statutory right of appeal. Written notice of appeal must be given within 14 days of the employer's decision. Then, unless the employer decides to accept the employee's proposal, a further meeting must take place within another 14 days. Two weeks after that, the employer must then notify the employer of the decision taken (note that these time limits may indeed be extended by mutual agreement).

If the employee isn't satisfied that the procedural requirements have been followed, or that the employer's decision to reject the application has been based on incorrect facts, then he or she has the right to appeal to an employment tribunal.

What, you might ask, would happen if the tribunal finds against you – the security manager? You could well be asked to reconsider your decision and/or pay compensation to the individual employee. The maximum award would be eight weeks' pay.

Last, but by no means least, it should be borne in mind that employees are protected from reprisals by their employer for taking advantage of their rights to ask for 'flexible working'. Any employee who feels they have been treated unfairly as a result of asking for contract variation – or subsequent to actually being granted a contract variation – can take their case to an employment tribunal.