Agency Workers: Guaranteed Hours and Rights Relating to Shifts
20 March 2025
The amendment to the Employment Rights Bill that was published on 10th March 2025, details the draft legislation to extend the new worker rights in regard to zero hours contracts to agency workers.
The new measures legislate for;
1. A right to guaranteed hours of work to reflect those normally worked; and
2. A right to reasonable notice of shifts with a right to payment for shifts which are cancelled, moved or cancelled at short notice.
Government considers that extension of these measures to agency workers will avert the scenario where employers switch to use of agency workers to try to circumvent the new legislation.
• Agency workers who were engaged on a zero hours contract* will be entitled to an offer of guaranteed hours of work representative to regular hours that they have worked during a reference period
• The reference period hasn’t been defined yet (12 weeks is rumoured)
• The end hirer is obliged to make the offer of guaranteed hours
• The worker is not obliged to accept the offer if they don’t want to
• The current system of transfer fees and extended hire periods will continue
• Both agency and end hirer will be responsible for providing reasonable notice of shifts and/or curtailment of shifts
• Where there is insufficient notice of cancellation, movement or curtailment of a shift, the agency will be required to make payment of a ‘specified amount’ to compensate the worker
• The agency will have the right to recover compensation payments from the end hirer where they are considered to be responsible for the late notice changes
* a zero hours contract or a contract where the employer makes work available for a minimum number of hours not exceeding a specified number.
Aspire Comment
Readers may be forgiven for believing that they have inadvertently wandered into the twilight zone but, they haven’t, and these measures represent an unwelcome raft of restrictive complication in an industry where flexibility has been the USP.
Further consultation is to follow before regulations are implemented with some roles due to be excluded from the obligations to reflect an exceptional temporary classification, such as for seasonal work.
The new measures are likely to be popular with workers who prefer a regular pattern of work without fluctuations. For those who claim Universal Credit to top up their earnings this could avoid interruptions and disruption to their benefits but equally, make them less likely to take on overtime to supplement their income and so, make them habitually more dependent on the welfare state.
Pending further clarification, we recommend that those who engage workers on zero hours contracts review their records to establish the impact of needing to offer guaranteed hours. Can fluctuations be levelled out amongst a group of workers? Would workers actually want guaranteed hours?