What are the current rules?
As it stands, zero-hours contracts are designed to deliver flexibility for both the organisation and the worker. An organisation does not need to guarantee any minimum working hours and is not obliged to offer shifts. Also, a worker is not required to accept work offered.
What is changing?
The Employment Rights Bill is still making its way through Parliament, so we await final confirmation of the changes. However, we’ve set out an overview of the current proposals
below:
- Employers to offer guaranteed hours: Employers must offer guaranteed hours to ‘qualifying workers’ based on an anticipated 12-week reference period, reflecting the hours regularly worked during that reference period. Qualifying workers include those on zero-hours contracts or those regularly working more than their guaranteed hours (i.e. on low-hours contracts). It has also recently been announced that zerohours agency workers will also be covered by these rules. Workers may opt to remain on zero-hours contracts for flexibility, but if so, it is anticipated that employers must continue making guaranteed hours offers every 12 weeks to comply with the new rules. This process of making offers will continue until the worker’s contractual hours exceed the ‘low-hours’ threshold, to be specified by regulations.
- Employers required to give reasonable notice of shifts and changes to shifts: ‘Reasonable notice’ is yet to be clarified, although of course, if shifts are being offered or changed on the same day as expected performance, this is likely to be considered unreasonable. This duty, however, will not be applicable where the worker suggests a shift or asks to stay longer, and the employer agrees to this.
- Compensation for cancelled, moved or curtailed shifts at short notice: The finer detail is yet to be provided in terms of what constitutes short notice, what the pay will look like, and whether there will be any exemptions. However, it has been confirmed that compensation will be proportionate to the notice provided, and shorter notice will therefore result in higher compensation payments.
- Exemption: Seasonal work or ‘genuinely temporary’ work will be an exemption to the requirement for employers to offer guaranteed hours. However, again, further detail is needed to understand what ‘temporary’ and ‘seasonal’ will mean in practice.
It has already been determined that claims of automatic unfair dismissal, alongside claims in relation to detriments suffered may be brought before the Tribunal for a failure to adhere to the new duty, and respect a worker’s decision in regard to an offer of guaranteed hours.
How can organisations prepare for the new changes?
Whilst the changes are not intended to come into effect until 2026, for a more seamless transition once the Bill is introduced, consider how this will affect your organisation as soon as possible.
In order to prepare for the incoming changes in 2026, have you done the following?
- Review your current workforce and identify which individuals, if any, are on zero-hours contracts.
- Consider whether the individual is truly a zero-hours worker in practice. If they are providing regular work every week, then it may be sensible to place them on a permanent contract now.
- Consider how you plan to monitor the 12-week review period. Will this be diarised for discussion, and who in the organisation will be responsible for reviewing and adhering to this?
- Review how much notice you are providing prior to shifts; does this seem ‘reasonable’?
- Review how often shifts are cancelled or changed in practice, and how much notice workers receive.
If you have any questions in relation to the Employment Rights Bill or employment law more generally, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the AfterAthena team (part of the Napthens Group) who are able to offer 30 minutes of free advice to QCS members.
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