Workers without children should get the same right to flexible working hours as parents, children’s minister Beverley Hughes says in a new book.

Hughes wrote: "We must redefine the 'ideal worker' and accept it is a fantasy to expect people to have none other than work commitments.
"Work-life balance is still unobtainable for many low-income families, where the impact of low pay, job insecurity and long or atypical working hours bite hardest."

Currently, parents of children under the age of six, or disabled children under 18, are the only ones who have the right to request flexible working.

Hughes argues that all jobs should be advertised as part-time, job-share or flexi-time unless there was a sound business case not to. She also suggested that paternity leave should be doubled to a month, while maternity and paternity pay should rise.

"Growing numbers of women at work has, in practice, often resulted in women having two jobs - a new professional one plus the old domestic one. We need to help families negotiate the balancing act between care work and paid work, avoiding negative trade offs between time and money," Highes said.

However, the CBI sounded a not of caution, director of HR policy Susan Anderson says: "Only by having a gradual and phased extension of flexible working can we avoid firms being deluged under a sudden increase in requests."