Reform of Zero-hours and Similar Contracts

Our plan to make work pay will modernise our employment rights legislation, extending the employment protections already given by the best British companies to millions more workers across the country. Strengthening this underlying framework will help build an economy based on fair competition between businesses, greater productivity in the workplace, job security for workers, and fair reward for hard work.

We are taking a phased approach to engagement and consultation on these reforms. This will ensure all stakeholders have the time and space to work through the detail of each measure and to help us implement them in a way that works for both workers and employers.

Following the April launch of consultations on non-disclosure agreements and a new code of practice for trade union access, alongside the establishment of the Fair Work Agency and the introduction of a number of measures that give new rights to working people, we are today launching a consultation on reforms of zero-hours and similar contracts. Alongside a programme of direct stakeholder engagement, these consultations will support us in determining how best to put our plans into practice.

The consultation on “Ending one-sided flexibility—reforms of zero hours and similar contracts” sets out three clear Government objectives: increasing the baseline of security and stability for workers, rebalancing labour market flexibility and fostering sustained economic growth. The consultation includes three parts.

Part 1 seeks views on key details to be defined in regulations for the right to guaranteed hours for directly engaged and agency workers which will affect eligibility, record-keeping needs and other practical considerations. These details include:

The hours threshold. To be in scope of the right to guaranteed hours, workers must have worked during the reference period for their employer on a zero-hours basis, or have a number of hours guaranteed in their contract already that is below an hours threshold to be specified in regulations—in which case they must have worked in excess of those guaranteed hours.

The length of initial and subsequent reference periods, and the timings of subsequent reference periods. Employers will be required to make a guaranteed hours offer to a qualifying worker that reflects the number of hours they worked during a reference period.

The Government’s preference is for the initial reference period to be 12 weeks long. Subsequent reference periods could be of a different length.

The definition of “temporary need”. This affects the circumstances in which employers can make a guaranteed hours offer on a limited-term basis, and may be important to employers facing seasonal demand.

The way that a guaranteed hours offer is calculated to reflect hours worked.

Any exemption from the right to guaranteed hours, which could apply in specific circumstances.

Part 2 seeks views on details to be set out in regulations for directly engaged and agency workers in relation to new rights to reasonable notice of shifts and changes to shifts, and payment for shifts cancelled, moved, or curtailed at short notice. These details include the scope of the measures; the length of notice to be presumed reasonable and the factors determining reasonableness; how to define short notice for the payment right and how the payment should be calculated; any exceptional circumstances where employers and hirers should be exempt from the new duties; and potential enforcement of short notice payments by the Fair Work Agency. Through consultation and engagement we also seek to understand better the potential impact of the measures on administrative costs to employers.

Part 3 seeks views on whether to amend the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 to require relevant entities to share information to support compliance.

This consultation will close at 11.59 pm on 25 August 2026. We have planned an extensive series of meetings during the consultation period with bodies representing employers and workers, including in the key sectors affected. Following the closure of this consultation we will analyse the responses and consider the views expressed and representations made, before publishing a Government response and making regulations in due course.

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