The government has announced proposals to allow all employees with children under 18 the right to request flexible working from April 2011.

Currently, those with children under 16 are allowed to ask to work from home and this must be 'considered' by the business. However, it can be 'justifiably' rejected.

The new plans should make it easier for people who do decide they want to bring a greater degree of flexibility to their working life to do so. Eventually, the government has promised that all workers will get this right, whether they have children or not.

However, the plans have been thwarted somewhat after a study conducted by Virgin Media Business revealed that just over one in 10 small businesses allowed their staff to work flexibly.

Out of the 5,000 businesses surveyed across the country, just 14 per cent of them allowed employees to work from home.

Andrew McGrath, Virgin Media Business' executive director, said, “Given the vast difference in scale and infrastructure between a company employing 100 people and one employing 100,000 it was inevitable that we’d discover some big differences in their approach to flexible working.

“Yet with millions more people about to gain the right to request flexible working it’s an issue that’s going to face businesses of all sizes,” he added.