Dr Sarah Hadfield, Visting Fellow at The School of Social Policy and Criminology, The Open University.
—
Labour has consistently claimed that it is banning “exploitative” zero-hours contracts by introducing the Employment Rights Bill, most recently by Rachel Reeves in the Spending Review. However, while the Bill has wins for workers’ rights, including reasonable notice to shifts and payments for shifts if they are cancelled, it does not outright ban zero-hours contracts. Instead, the Bill gives employees the right to request guaranteed hours reflective of any regular hours worked over a “reference period” – not defined but widely reported as being 12-weeks. An attempts in the Lords to define the “reference period” as 26 weeks (around six months) was not moved.
Employers should automatically offer employees guaranteed hours. If an employer hasn’t automatically offered a new contract arrangement, it is not too much of a leap to assume that Labour is hoping that zero-hours workers will use the Fair Work Agency, created in the same Bill, to take their employer to a tribunal.
ONS figures show that young workers, females and those in education represent the largest groups in zero-hours contracts.
Are young workers the group Labour expects to enact their right to claim employment stability and fair working practices?
Amy, a participant in research on childfree young women’s experiences of employment insecurity and financial autonomy, at the age of 22, worked in the service sector at a small independent eatery for 10 months in total. Shortly after joining, she was promoted to manager and then store manager on a zero-hours contract and was working between 30 to 50 hours per week:
Amy: “—if you complained, there was nothing stopping them just getting rid of you. ‘Cos you couldn’t really say anything…. Gotta keep my head down if I want to keep my job. ‘Cos if you, if I didn’t have that job, I couldn’t pay my rent.”
On the manager and owner of the business, she described him:
“When he gets stressed, he gets angry. And he’s this big six-foot-odd giant of a man and he is…intimidating, sometimes.”
In theory this Bill would give Amy the right to request consistent weekly hours. However, working conditions and environments can make it challenging for employees to enforce their working rights for fear of losing the income they have, an experience shared by others in the study.
Amy was working for a small independent eatery under these conditions, and unlike large organisations, small businesses often fail to draw media scrutiny when employment practices are poor. Also, the Bill would not give Amy the right to a permanent job, despite working in her role for 10 months.
Young workers are a group that have had their social rights eroded by several governments through social security legislation. For example, the right to adequate housing with the shared accommodation rate, removing the right to an income via lowering the rates of unemployment benefit and most recently removing benefits for young people who have poor health. Young workers appear in The Equalities Act 2010, in a clause that exempts them from equal pay in the National Minimum wage and or workplace benefits based on length of service. It is hard to imagine that without restoring young workers social rights, Labour really wants to “ban” zero-hours contracts for young people.
While Labour needs to work to ensure young people have access and support to enact their employment rights, it must restore basic social rights (equal wages, housing benefit). While the Employment Rights Bill feels like a step towards better employment rights the impact might be felt differently.
If this Bill passes, only time and research will tell …
—
This blog was written by Sarah Hadfield 3rd July 2025. Sarah holds a PhD from The Open University, where she is a visiting fellow.
With thanks to Dr Emily Lynn and Clare Laxton for commenting on an earlier draft.
Image: Rendy Novantino via Unsplash