Ahead of legislation planned for zero / low hour workers, the UK Government has issued guidance for employers on the use of contracts that do not guarantee work to workers.
The Labour Party’s Plan to Make Work Pay includes a section ‘Zero hours contracts and one-sided flexibility’ and was brought into legislation via the Employment Rights Act 2025. An 02 June 2026 consultation, now closed) and a factsheet was published on the proposed reforms. Two of the measures will give workers:
1. The right to ‘reasonable’ notice of shifts and changes to these; and
2. The right to payment for shifts that are cancelled, curtailed or moved at short notice
These are significant changes, though the plan to give the statutory right for guaranteed hours will affect more employers. This will be where a zero or low hour worker must be offered a contract that reflects the hours worked by a qualifying worker during a reference period.
Ahead of a response to the consultation, the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST) have published a guidance document entitled ‘Zero hours contracts: guidance for employers’. This does not contain any new information or any guidance on the upcoming reforms. It is, simply, a guide to how zero hour contracts can be used and an employer’s alternatives. The short guidance has the following sections:
For Bookkeepers
Note that the guidance is about zero hour contracts only based on legislation before it changes. It does not refer to workers who are on contracts with low hours, a threshold that will be defined later.