The Employment Rights Bill zero hours contracts measures were among the Government’s headline commitments when the Bill was introduced in October 2024, and they remained one of the most debated parts of the legislation throughout its passage. The Bill received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025 and became the Employment Rights Act 2025. The zero hours provisions are not yet in force, and much of the practical detail still depends on regulations that the Government is preparing following a consultation which closed on 25 August 2026. Employers who rely on casual, variable, or seasonal staffing therefore have a settled framework to plan against, even though the final rules are not yet known.
Helping owner-managed businesses understand what a reform will mean in practice is a large part of what we do at GAP HR. We have advised small employers since 2003, and zero hours arrangements are common among our clients in hospitality, care, retail, and leisure, where demand is unpredictable and flexibility is a commercial necessity. The new rules will require those employers to change how they record hours, plan rotas, and communicate with staff, and that preparation cannot sensibly be left until the regulations are published.
Call us now on 01491 598 600 or Click Here to Make An Enquiry and we will be delighted to help you.
What Did The Employment Rights Bill Propose For Zero Hours Contracts?
The Government’s stated aim was to end what it described as one-sided flexibility, where an employer keeps a worker available without committing to any income and the worker carries the whole risk of fluctuating demand. The Bill did not propose to ban zero hours contracts, and the Act does not ban them. Instead, it introduced the following three linked rights for workers on zero hours or low hours arrangements:
- A right to be offered a contract with guaranteed hours reflecting the hours actually worked over a reference period.
- A right to reasonable notice of shifts and of any changes to them.
- A right to payment where a shift is cancelled, moved, or cut short at short notice.
The House of Lords twice passed amendments that would have converted the employer’s duty to make an offer into a right for the worker to request one, and on both occasions the Commons rejected them. The final Act places the obligation firmly on the employer, and a worker who wants guaranteed hours does not have to ask for them.
What Does The Employment Rights Act 2025 Require Of Employers?
The central obligation placed on employers is the obligation to offer employees guaranteed hours. After the end of each reference period, an employer must offer a qualifying worker a contract that guarantees hours reflecting the number and pattern of hours they worked during that period. The worker may accept or reject the offer within a response period, and a worker who does not respond is treated as having rejected it. A worker who prefers to remain on a zero hours arrangement is free to do so, but the employer’s duty arises again after each subsequent reference period, so the offer must be repeated for as long as the worker continues to qualify.
Temporary work does not remove the duty to make an offer, but it does affect the form the offer can take. Where the employer reasonably considers that the need for the work is limited in time, for example, seasonal trade or a specific project, the Act allows the guaranteed hours offer to be made for a limited term rather than as a permanent contract. An offer must still be made at the end of the reference period.
Workers are protected against detriment and dismissal for asserting any of these rights, and a worker who is not made an offer to which they were entitled can bring a claim in the employment tribunal. The Act also permits employers to contract out of the guaranteed hours and notice provisions through a collective agreement with an independent trade union, provided the agreed terms are incorporated into the individual contracts, although that route will be of limited relevance to most small businesses.
What Are The Rules On Notice Of Shifts And Cancellation Payments?
Employers will be required to give qualifying workers reasonable notice of the days, times, and hours they are expected to work, and reasonable notice of any change to a shift, including a cancellation or a reduction in its length. Regulations will set a period that is presumed to be reasonable, and where an employer gives less notice than that, it will be for the employer to show that the notice was reasonable in the circumstances.
Separately, where a shift is cancelled, moved, or curtailed at short notice, the worker will be entitled to a payment. The short notice period will be set in regulations and cannot exceed seven days, with the consultation considering periods of one, two, three, five or seven days. The amount of the payment will also be fixed by regulations. A worker who does not receive a payment that is due will be able to recover it as an unlawful deduction from wages.
Which Workers Will Be Covered?
The rights apply to workers on zero hours contracts and to workers on low hours contracts, meaning contracts that guarantee fewer than a threshold number of hours per week. That threshold will be set in regulations. The consultation asked for views on figures between eight and 48 hours per week, and the Government has indicated that its preference lies between eight and 20 hours. The Act allows regulations to exclude particular categories of worker or employer, and to make special provision for seasonal work.
Agency workers are covered in a modified form. The hirer, rather than the agency, will be responsible for making the guaranteed hours offer, and a worker who accepts becomes a worker of the hirer. The agency will be responsible for short notice payments, although it will be able to recover those sums from the hirer where the hirer caused the change. The duty to give reasonable notice of shifts will rest on the agency and the hirer jointly.
When Will The Changes Take Effect?
The Government’s implementation timetable anticipates the zero hours measures coming into force in 2027, with the month to be confirmed by regulations.
The consultation, titled Make Work Pay: ending one-sided flexibility, ran from 2nd June to 25th August 2026, and covered the reference period, the low hours threshold, the calculation of guaranteed hours, the notice periods, and the level of short notice payments. The Government’s response and the draft regulations are awaited, and the final form of the regime will not be clear until they are published.
How Can GAP HR Help With Zero Hours Contracts?
We can audit your current use of zero hours, low hours, and agency staff, identify which workers are likely to qualify once the thresholds are set, and prepare the contract templates and rota procedures you will need. Where the regulations leave room for choice, for example, on limited-term offers for seasonal work, we will advise on the approach that best fits your business, and we will keep you informed as the Government’s response and the regulations are published.
Call us now on 01491 598 600 or Click Here to Make An Enquiry and we will be delighted to help you.
