Downing Street has said there are no plans to introduce a legal right to work from home but said the Government is consulting on making flexible working a default option.
Business leaders believe hybrid working will remain after the pandemic despite reports that the Government is planning to make working from home a default position.
Unions warned of a risk of a two-tier workforce, divided between those who can work from home being given flexibility, and those who cannot being given none.
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The Conservative 2019 manifesto before the pandemic promised to legislate for flexible working, while ministers today talked about a "balanced return to work".
But Downing Street said they were not planning to introduce a legal right to work from home.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "We've asked people to work from home where they can during the pandemic but there are no plans to make this permanent or introduce a legal right to work from home.
"There are no plans to make working from home the default or introducing a legal right to work from home."
But he added: "What we're consulting on is making flexible working a default option unless employers have good reasons not to."
He defined flexible working as "a range of working arrangements around time, place and hours of work including part-time working, flexi-time or compressed hours" but not necessarily working from home.
