HANSARD
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.Overview of consultationThe 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.