Reform of zero hours contracts

Implementation date: Expected 2027

The Employment Rights Act 2025 includes provisions to reform rules on the use of zero hours contracts.

Under the Act, workers on zero hours contracts, or contracts providing for a low number of guaranteed hours, will have the right to

• guaranteed hours if they work regular hours over a defined period; 
• reasonable notice of a shift;
• reasonable notice of cancellation of, or change to, a shift; and 
• payment for cancelled, moved or shortened shifts at short notice.

On 2 June 2026, the Government published a consultation on how these measures should work in practice, including proposals around:

• the hours threshold that will define which workers are in scope, and the length of the reference period, for the guaranteed hours provisions; and
• eligibility for the rights around notice of shifts, how much notice of a shift is reasonable, the short notice payment amount and enforcement of short notice payments.

The consultation closes on 25 August 2026.

Compensation will be payable only where a worker reasonably believes they would be needed for the shift in question, so they may need to demonstrate why they believed they would be required to work.

Employers will have the ability to enter into a collective agreement with an independent trade union that excludes or modifies these rights, provided that the terms of the agreement are incorporated into the worker's contract.

To avoid the potential loophole of agency work being used to avoid these measures, the rights will extend to agency workers. The Act includes a framework for the application of the zero hours contract measures to agency workers.

Separate regulations will set out further detail and procedural requirements.

In its Plan to Make Work Pay and Employment Rights Act: timeline update, the Government has said that these measures will take effect in 2027.