A survey conducted by the Charted Institute for Personnel Development has found that many employers have responded to new rights for parents with a series of flexible working policies.

Patricia Hewitt, trade and industry secretary, said: "It is good news that employers are taking a sensible approach to flexible working. This survey shows that employers are finding the new laws both easy to use and beneficial to their business.

"We designed the new laws in close consultation with employers, family groups, trade unions and charities to ensure we got the policy right and it is encouraging that 9 out of 10 employers say there are no problems with it.

"It is still early days for the new rights but I am confident that our policies, building on the practice of the best, will help accelerate a change in workplace culture to allow parents to get a better balance between work and family life."

Forum Response: Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development

Mike Emmott, head of employee relations at the CIPD, said: "It is still early days, but this evidence suggests that the impact of the new right on both employers and employees is seen as overwhelmingly positive.

"In our view, the evidence gives no support to the cynics who argued that a right to request flexible working would be entirely ineffectual, or to those critics who feared it would be costly to apply. Employers are using the law to reinforce existing good practice.

"The legislation seems to have struck about the right balance between encouragement and enforcement.

"When the new legal right to request flexible working was introduced, CIPD urged that it should apply to all employees, not just to parents. In the light of these research findings, we believe that judgement was right.

"The government will need to consider this option when it reviews the legislation three years after its introduction."

Forum Response: Institute of Directors

A spokesman for the IoD told ePolitix.com: "Flexible working is clearly a good thing for many companies, however, our concern remains for smaller businesses.

"Many employers simply cannot afford to let staff work flexible hours yet they are compelled by law to consider all request and then explain their decision."

Forum Response: British Retail Consortium

A spokesman for the British Retail Consortium told ePolitix.com: "We are not surprised by the results of the survey. UK retailers have pioneered changes in working practices to ensure the most flexible hours to meet the needs of staff and customers.

"Half of retail employees work part time and our stores offer working conditions that suit working mothers, returners to work and even the semi-retired.

"Our position at the forefront of flexible working was demonstrated by the fact that the BRC and the retail community was consulted by the Cabinet Office for our expertise when it was developing new working patterns for the NHS."