The Right to Guaranteed Hours

The right to guaranteed hours is the mechanism the Government has chosen to 'ban' zero hours contracts.  There is a consultation on this but we do have a strong steer from some of the provisions in the Bill.

In essence, these new provisions will oblige employers to offer contracts with guaranteed hours to ‘qualifying workers’ whose working pattern over an as yet to be specified reference period reaches an as yet to be specified threshold. Qualifying workers include zero hours workers – hourly paid workers for whom there are no guaranteed hours or workers whose guaranteed hours fall below a level set by the Secretary of State in Regulations. 

The number of hours at which that threshold is set will obviously be crucial. The Next Steps document says the right will apply to workers with a ‘low’ number of guaranteed hours but does not give any indication of what ‘low’ means. 

The new right is based on a reference period that will be set out in Regulations. The Next Steps document talks about a 12-week reference period and this has been an established part of Labour’s policy since the beginning. However, the Bill itself does not set the reference period.

A worker will qualify for an offer of guaranteed hours if over the course of the reference period they work a number of hours which is in excess of the minimum number of hours under their contract and do so with a level of regularity that will be set out in Regulations. 

Where the duty is triggered the employer must make an offer to the worker either of a new contract or of a variation to their existing contract. The offer must 'reflect' the total number of hours worked in the reference period.  So if the worker worked 240 hours over the 12 week reference period then the offer would have to ‘reflect that’. Exactly what that means is something that will be set out in Regulations! 

Once the offer has been made and assuming it is accepted then the cycle begins again. If the worker still qualifies because of the ‘low’ number of hours that are guaranteed then there will be another reference period and another potential obligation to offer a contract to reflect hours worked in excess of the new guaranteed minimum. This continues – essentially a ratcheting effect – until the worker no longer qualifies because their guaranteed hours are no longer ‘low’. 

There are other provisions in the Bill but there is little point on commenting on the details at the moment as it could all be subject to change once the consultation has concluded. We will of course update you as and when we know more.

Source: Darren Newman, A Range of Reasonable Responses blog, October 16, 2024

If you would like support reviewing your contracts and policies ahead of the proposed changes in the Bill, please contact our team on hello@starfordlegalhr.com