12/05/2026
Zero Hours and Low Hours Contracts - The changes that have come into force and why this does affect you.
Most of the businesses I speak to about the ERA 2025 zero-hours changes say the same thing:
"We don’t use zero-hours contracts, so this doesn’t affect us."
In a lot of cases, they’re wrong.
The Employment Rights Act 2025 doesn’t just apply to workers on zero-hours contracts. It applies to workers on low-hours contracts - contracts that guarantee eight or twelve hours a week, where the worker is routinely rostered for thirty.
That description fits a very large number of businesses in hospitality, retail, care, and logistics who have never thought of themselves as zero-hours employers.
From later this year, those workers will have a right to be offered guaranteed hours reflecting their actual working pattern. There are also new rights to notice of shifts and compensation when shifts are cancelled at short notice.
The first step for any affected business is a workforce audit: look at every worker on a variable or low-hours arrangement, compare their contracted hours against their actual working pattern over a reference period, and model what a guaranteed-hours obligation would mean for payroll and operational flexibility.
That audit is a defined, fixed-scope piece of work. It is also the piece of work that tells you how much everything else will cost.
If you’re in hospitality, retail, care, logistics, or any sector that relies on flexible staffing, this is worth a conversation before the provisions come into force.
Comment below or message me if you’d like to talk through whether your workforce arrangements are affected.
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