6.1. The government’s manifesto promised to end “exploitative” zero hours contracts, but the Employment Rights Act 2025 (“the Act”) doesn’t go quite this far. There is no definition of what “exploitative” might be however the scope for an employer to offer a contract with no defined hours is more or less removed. Zero hours contractors can still be issued initially to workers. However employers must now offer a guaranteed hours contract, that matches the number of hours worked, over a reference period of 12 weeks.
6.2. The measures in the Act are complex, detailed and cover the right to guaranteed hours, the right to reasonable notice of shifts and shift changes.
6.3. We’ve summarised the key points in tabs 7 & 8 below.
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