It was confirmed in the Budget that the right for employees to request time off to train, will not be introduced for employers with less than 250 people in April 2011 as had been expected.

The right for employees to request time off for training has applied to employers with 250 or more employees since 6 April 2010.The right was due to be extended to all employees, from 6 April 2011 but the Government previously announced it was going to delay this and consider the impact on smaller businesses further.

It was confirmed in the Budget that the new right would not now be extended to employers with less than 250 employees.

The Government has estimated that not bringing forward this change and other employment law changes such as the extension to flexible working will save businesses around £350 million a year.