Islington Council wins award for flexible working – and challenges other local employers to follow suit

Islington Council is urging local employers to offer flexible jobs, after it became the third London council to receive the Timewise Council award for its commitment to flexible working practices.

The council’s move to adopt and champion flexible working is part of its ongoing effort to implement the recommendations of its ground-breaking Employment Commission, which published its final report last year. 

With almost a fifth of its 4,500 staff already working ‘non-standard’ hours, and now with a blueprint for further spreading flexible working across the council, Islington is calling on public, private, and voluntary sector employers, based in the borough, to follow its example by creating more inclusive and adaptable workforces.

The award follows recent research, published by Timewise, which highlighted the low level – just 6 per cent nationally – of job opportunities offering flexibility. It also indicated that nearly 50 per cent of all employees want the option to work flexibly – often to accommodate family and childcare responsibilities.

Islington Council’s executive member for finance and performance, Cllr Andy Hull, said: “Supporting people into work is the best way to tackle poverty and inequality, and creating flexible jobs that work for people is an important part of making that happen.”

“This award shows the council practising what it preaches by creating flexible jobs that pay the London Living Wage. Receiving the award is just the beginning: over the next 12 months we will be reviewing and improving our flexible working policies to make the council an even better place to work.”

“Many businesses are committed to our community and share our wish to create a fairer Islington. We want to work with employers to help them better understand flexible job design and agile working so as to improve local people’s chances of getting and keeping a job.”

Local employers interested in adopting flexible working patterns should get in touch with Islington Council’s Employer Engagement Manager, Albena Karameros.