Zero-hours contracts/predictable working patterns

Workers on zero-hours contracts have no right to predictable working patterns, hours are set and agreed in accordance with the terms of the zero-hour contract.

The ERB does not ban zero-hour contracts but rather introduces a new duty for employers to offer a ‘qualifying worker’ a guaranteed hours contract. Qualifying workers will be workers who, during the reference period, will either have worked on a zero-hour contract or on a guaranteed hours contract (where the number of guaranteed hours is low) and their working pattern will have met certain conditions as to regularity or number. These conditions are to be confirmed in regulations as is the reference period although we expect it to be 12 weeks. The minimum number of guaranteed hours has also yet to be confirmed. Currently agency workers are excluded from being qualifying workers, however, the Government has reserved the power to make provision for agency workers to be included.

A worker can refuse the guaranteed hours offer after the initial reference period; however, the offer must be repeated after subsequent reference periods. The guaranteed hours offer must set out the days of the week and the times on those days when the employer must make work available or a working pattern of days and the times of days when the employer must make work available. The guaranteed hours offer can be a fixed term offer but only if that is reasonable.

A worker may present a complaint to the tribunal if an employer does not comply with this duty and fails to offer guaranteed hours to a qualifying worker.

Draft regulations are needed on issues such as the length of the initial and subsequent reference periods, the form of the contract to be offered, the minimum hours in a guaranteed hours contract etc.

Consultation on extending zero-hour worker rights to agency workers – consultation closed 2.12.2024.

Fact sheet outlining the Government’s intention with this provision.

Any notice provision will be included in the terms of an individual zero-hour contract and must comply with the general principles of reasonableness and not undermining the underlying trust and confidence between the parties. There is no blanket right to a certain period of notice.

An employer must give a worker reasonable notice of a shift where the worker is a zero-hour worker or working under a contract where the contract does not provide on what days or at what times the employer is to make work available to the worker. Reasonable is not less than a specified amount of time before the shift is about to start – we anticipate the ‘specified amount of time’ to be defined in regulations.

A worker may present a claim at tribunal should their employer fail to give reasonable notice of a shift. The tribunal may make a declaration to that effect and may make an award of compensation to be paid to the worker. The amount of compensation will be what the tribunal consider just and equitable in all the circumstances to compensate the worker for any financial loss suffered. The worker will be under a duty to mitigate their loss.

Any notice provision regards the change of a shift any notice provision will be included in the terms of an individual zero-hour contract and must comply with the general principles of reasonableness and not undermining the underlying trust and confidence between the parties. There is no blanket right to a certain period of notice when a shift pattern is changed.

Where an employer has given notice of a shift to an employee, then they must give reasonable notice of a cancellation or any change to that shift. Again, we expect regulations to define a specified amount of time, and anything less than that time will be considered unreasonable.

A worker may present a claim at tribunal should their employer fail to give reasonable notice of a cancellation or change to a shift. The tribunal may make a declaration to that effect and may make an award of compensation to be paid to the worker. The amount of compensation will be what the tribunal consider just and equitable in all the circumstances to compensate the worker for any financial loss suffered. The worker will be under a duty to mitigate their loss.

Any provision regarding payment in lieu of a changed shift will be included in the terms of an individual zero-hour contract and must comply with the general principles of reasonableness and not undermining the underlying trust and confidence between the parties. There is no blanket right to compensatory payment when a shift pattern is changed.

An employer must compensate a worker when a shift is cancelled or changed or curtailed at short notice. Short notice is defined as less than a specified amount of time before the shift and that specified time to be confirmed in regulations.

The amount of compensation is a specified amount, again to be confirmed in regulations although it will not exceed the amount of money the worker would have earned had they worked the original shift that has been cancelled, changed or curtailed.

A worker may bring a claim at tribunal should their employer failed to make the whole or any part of the payment due following a cancelled, moved or curtailed shift.

Draft regulations are required to give more details on these provisions relating to notice of shift, changing of shifts and payment for cancelled or moved shifts.

Fact sheet outlining the Government’s intention with this provision.

Legislation which the previous Government introduced was due to come into force in September 2024 (12 months after Royal Assent of the Act). The Act gave workers on zero-hour contracts the right to request more predictable hours after they had been employed for a reference period. The employer was then able to accept the request or reject it on a number of grounds. The process was similar to the statutory flexible working request procedures.

This Act will not come into force.

The Act will be repealed the day the ERB receives Royal Assent.