Zero-Hours Contract Reform Is Coming — What Workers Should Know Before the Rules Change

If you're on a zero-hours or low-hours contract, significant new protections are on the way — but not until 2027, and the details are still being finalised. Here's what's confirmed, what's still up for consultation, and what you can do now.

What's changing

Under the Employment Rights Act 2025, workers on zero-hours and low-hours contracts will get the right to guaranteed working hours if they want them, reflecting the hours they actually worked during a defined reference period. They will also gain the right to reasonable notice of shifts and any changes to them, and the right to payment if a shift is cancelled, moved, or cut short by an employer at short notice.

Most of this detail will be set out in secondary legislation, following a government consultation on zero and low hours contracts that closes on 25 August 2026. The substantive reforms are expected to take effect in 2027, not this year.

Why it matters now

Even though implementation is over a year away, the consultation period is when the practical detail — the length of the reference period, how "reasonable notice" is defined, and the compensation formula for cancelled shifts — gets decided. Workers, unions and employer bodies can respond directly.

Checklist: what to do now

• Keep records of your actual hours worked each week, going back as far as you can — this will matter when the reference-period calculation for guaranteed hours is finalised.
• Note any short-notice shift cancellations and whether you were compensated, so you have a baseline to compare once the new payment-for-cancelled-shifts right applies.
• Check your current contract terms via ACAS's zero-hours contracts guidance to understand your existing rights, including the right to work for other employers.
• Watch for the outcome of the 25 August 2026 consultation — ACAS and gov.uk will publish updated guidance once regulations are laid.
• If you're a union member, ask your rep whether your union is responding to the consultation — collective submissions often shape the final detail more than individual ones.
• Don't expect changes before 2027 — anyone telling you guaranteed hours rights apply now is getting ahead of the legislation.

International comparison

The UK's proposed reforms echo moves elsewhere: several Australian states already require minimum shift notice and cancellation pay under the Fair Work Ombudsman's casual employment rules, while EU member states operate under the Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions Directive, which sets minimum notice periods for shift workers across the bloc.

Key Numbers

• Consultation closes 25 August 2026
• Guaranteed hours and shift-cancellation pay rights expected 2027
• Reforms apply to both zero-hours and low-hours contracts

Sources

• Employment Rights Act 2025 — Acas
• Zero Hours Contracts and Shift Notices: Employment Rights Act Spotlight Series — Make UK

Educational content only — not financial advice.