Zero Hours Contracts — Your Rights in 2025
Approximately one million people in the UK work on zero hours contracts — and many of them don't know the rights they already have, or the significant new protections coming under the Employment Rights Bill 2025. Whether you are a worker relying on zero hours work or an employer using flexible contracts, this guide explains where the law currently stands and what is about to change.
What Is a Zero Hours Contract?
A zero hours contract is an employment or worker agreement under which the employer is not obliged to offer any minimum number of hours, and the worker is not obliged to accept any hours offered. The employer calls the worker when work is available; if there is no work, nothing is paid. The arrangement offers maximum flexibility for the employer — and can offer flexibility for the worker too — but it leaves the worker with no guaranteed income and no certainty about when they will next be required.
Zero hours contracts are most common in hospitality, retail, social care, education, and the gig economy. They are widely used by large employers such as NHS trusts, supermarkets, fast-food chains, and Amazon delivery contractors. The Office for National Statistics estimated in 2024 that around 1.1 million people were employed on zero hours contracts in the UK, though the true figure may be higher given that many workers do not know the nature of their contract.
It is important to understand that "zero hours contract" is not a legal term — it is a shorthand used to describe several different types of flexible working arrangement. The legal rights that apply depend not on what the contract says but on your actual employment status: employee, worker, or self-employed.
Are You an Employee or a Worker?
Most people on zero hours contracts are "workers" rather than "employees." This distinction is crucial because employees have significantly more rights than workers. The difference depends on the actual nature of the working relationship, not on what your contract calls you.
Workers
You are a worker if you have a contract to personally perform services for an employer who is not a client or customer of your business. Workers are entitled to: the National Minimum Wage, paid annual leave (5.6 weeks per year), protection from unlawful deductions from wages, rest breaks and rest periods, protection against discrimination, and protection from being penalised for asserting their statutory rights.
Employees
You are an employee if there is sufficient mutuality of obligation — an ongoing expectation that the employer will offer work and you will accept it — and sufficient control exercised by the employer over how you do the work. Employees get all worker rights plus: statutory sick pay, statutory maternity/paternity/adoption pay, the right to request flexible working, redundancy pay, and protection from unfair dismissal (after two years). Many zero hours workers will be employees on this analysis, even if their contract says otherwise.
Rights You Already Have on a Zero Hours Contract
National Minimum Wage
Every worker (and employee) on a zero hours contract is entitled to be paid at least the National Minimum Wage for every hour worked. From April 2025, the National Living Wage (for those aged 21 and over) is £12.21 per hour. Employers cannot pay you less than this regardless of how your contract is worded. If you have been underpaid, you can make a complaint to HMRC's National Minimum Wage enforcement team or bring a claim in the Employment Tribunal. There is no qualifying period and no cap on back pay for underpayment.
Paid Holiday
Zero hours workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave per year, accrued from the first day of work. For irregular-hours workers — a category that now formally covers most zero hours workers following the Harpur Trust v Brazel Supreme Court ruling and subsequent legislative changes — holiday is calculated at 12.07% of hours worked in the relevant pay period. This means you accrue holiday as you work, and your employer must pay it when you take it or when your contract ends. Rolled-up holiday pay (paying extra in each pay packet instead of giving paid leave) is now lawful for irregular-hours workers under the 2024 regulations, provided it is clearly itemised on your payslip.
Protection from Discrimination
Zero hours workers are protected by the Equality Act 2010 from the first day of their engagement. An employer cannot discriminate against you because of a protected characteristic (age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation) in offering work, pay, or treatment. There is no qualifying period for discrimination claims and compensation is uncapped.
Protection from Detriment
You have the right not to be subjected to a detriment — being offered fewer hours, being removed from the rota, or being treated unfairly — for asserting a statutory right. If your employer retaliates against you for complaining about unpaid holiday, requesting a payslip, or questioning a deduction from your wages, that is unlawful and you can bring a claim in the Employment Tribunal.
Exclusivity Clauses — Already Unlawful
Since May 2015, exclusivity clauses in zero hours contracts have been unlawful and unenforceable. An exclusivity clause is one that prevents a zero hours worker from working for another employer. Because the employer is offering no guaranteed hours, it cannot also prevent the worker from finding other work to fill the gaps. If your zero hours contract contains an exclusivity clause, it is void. Your employer cannot lawfully penalise you for working elsewhere.
Since January 2016, it has also been automatically unfair to dismiss a zero hours employee (with two years' service) because they worked for another employer in breach of an exclusivity clause — and workers (without the two-year requirement) have a right not to be subjected to a detriment for the same reason.
The Employment Rights Bill 2025 — Major Changes Coming
The Employment Rights Bill, which received Royal Assent in 2025 and is being implemented in phases, contains the most significant reforms to zero hours workers' rights since the exclusivity ban. The key changes are:
Right to Guaranteed Hours
Workers who have worked regular hours for 12 weeks or more will have the right to request a guaranteed hours contract reflecting the average hours worked during that reference period. Employers must either offer a guaranteed hours contract or give written reasons why they are not doing so. This does not force employers to offer permanent contracts — but it gives workers a mechanism to convert a consistently working arrangement into one with certainty.
Right to Reasonable Notice of Shifts
Zero hours workers will have the right to receive reasonable advance notice of shifts. The government has indicated that "reasonable" is likely to mean a minimum of several days' notice, though the exact period will be set by secondary legislation. Workers who have shifts cancelled or curtailed with less than the required notice will be entitled to compensation — a "cancellation payment" — for the lost hours.
Right to Compensation for Cancelled Shifts
Linked to the notice right, employers who cancel or curtail shifts at short notice without a valid reason will have to pay workers a proportion of the wages they would have earned. This is designed to address the practice of employers over-rostering workers and then sending them home after brief periods.
Holiday Pay — A Common Source of Dispute
Holiday pay for zero hours workers has been one of the most litigated areas of employment law in recent years. The key legal developments are:
- Harpur Trust v Brazel [2022] — the Supreme Court ruled that part-year workers (those who work for some weeks and not others) must have their holiday calculated based on the 5.6-week entitlement applied to their actual working weeks, not averaged over 52 weeks. This significantly increased the holiday entitlement for term-time-only workers.
- The 2024 Regulations — in response to Brazel and for simplicity, the government introduced new regulations allowing employers to calculate holiday for irregular-hours workers at 12.07% of hours worked in each pay period. This is the accrual method, and it can now be paid as rolled-up holiday pay (included in the hourly rate) if clearly labelled.
The practical effect is that zero hours workers now have a clearly defined method for calculating their holiday entitlement, and employers who have been underpaying can face significant back-pay claims going back up to two years.
Statutory Sick Pay
Zero hours workers are entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) provided they meet the qualifying conditions: they must be classed as an "employee" for SSP purposes (which includes most workers), earn at least the lower earnings limit (£123/week in 2025/26), and have been sick for at least four consecutive days. SSP is currently £116.75 per week and is paid by the employer.
The Employment Rights Bill will reform SSP from day one of sickness (removing the three waiting days) and remove the lower earnings limit, extending SSP to lower-paid and irregular-hours workers who currently fall below the threshold. These changes are expected from April 2026.
What to Do If Your Rights Are Being Breached
- Identify your status — use the zero hours rights checker or take advice to confirm whether you are a worker or employee. Your rights differ significantly.
- Raise the issue informally first — speak to your line manager or HR. Many breaches result from ignorance rather than deliberate policy. A written note of the conversation creates a record.
- Raise a formal grievance — if the informal approach fails, submit a written grievance. Your employer must follow the ACAS Code of Practice, which requires a meeting and a written outcome. Keep copies of everything.
- Contact ACAS — ACAS provides free advice to workers and can help mediate disputes before they reach a tribunal. Call the ACAS helpline on 0300 123 1100.
- Employment Tribunal claim — most Employment Tribunal claims must be brought within three months minus one day of the act complained of. Contact ACAS for early conciliation before lodging a claim.