Warning over ‘guaranteed’ hours for UK workers
Key Points
- UK trade bodies warn government that mandatory guaranteed hours under Employment Rights Act threaten flexible jobs and worker opportunities.
- Policy requires employers to offer guaranteed hours to zero/low-hours staff with regular patterns, seen as risking higher unemployment and reduced youth labour market entry.
- Groups urge longer 6-12 month reference period, 8-hour low-hours threshold, agency-led decisions for temps, and urgent govt-business talks to preserve labour market flexibility.
- Letter highlights risk of reduced hiring, fewer hours, or shift to casual models amid weakened demand, urging confidence in hiring.
A group of leading trade bodies has warned the government that plans for guaranteed hours will lead to poorer opportunities and conditions for workers.
The changes, which form part of the Employment Rights Act, will make it a mandatory requirement for employers to offer guaranteed hours to zero-hours and low-hours workers who consistently work regular hours.
In a joint letter to the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, the bodies – British Retail Consortium, Food and Drink Federation, Recruitment and Employment Confederation, and UK Hospitality – warn that the measure is a ‘substantial threat to good jobs’.
The group suggests changes to the policy that will avoid ‘the double whammy of increasing unemployment and fewer young people entering the labour market’.
It further warns that the government risks undoing the flexibility and good employment practice that it has repeatedly praised, and which adds to the resilience of the UK jobs market.
“Across our sectors, concern is deep and growing that the current approach risks stripping flexibility from the labour market at precisely the wrong moment,” the letter states.
“With demand already weakened, poorly designed guaranteed hours measures could become a tipping point, pushing employers to reduce hiring, limit hours, or withdraw flexible roles altogether, denying work to those who need it most, or moving to less secure, more casual models of engagement.”
The group urged the government to signal a change in policy direction to avoid the ‘double whammy’ of increasing unemployment and fewer young people entering the labour market.
‘We would like to see the government send an urgent and clear message to businesses that they should continue to hire with confidence.”
Proposed changes
In the letter, the groups call on the government to:
- Set the reference period assessing regular hours to be an absolute minimum of six months with a 12-month period most accurately reflecting genuine regularity.
- Acknowledge that temporary agencies already operate within robust regulatory frameworks and so to avoid a drive to false self-employment any additional hours should be determined by agencies rather than end-hirers. The Low Pay Commission noted that other systems – like Ireland – treated agency and temporary cover differently.
- Set the low hours threshold at eight hours so the change remains targeted on those without predictable hours rather than sweeping up workers who don’t need low hours protections and giving workers a right to demand more work where that may not be available.
- Engage in immediate discussion with business groups about the suggested changes to the government’s proposals.
The government is currently consulting on how it will implement the rules. The findings of this consultation were first due to be released at the end of 2025, but have since been delayed.
