Following Labour’s election win, the new government has proposed a whole host of changes to employment law, forming what the prime minister described as “the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation”.
As part of its Plan to Make Work Pay, the party suggests new rules to stop the “abuse” of “exploitative” zero-hours contracts, stating in its manifesto that it would end “one-sided flexibility” and ensure that all jobs provide a baseline level of security and predictability – including the prohibition of zero-hours contracts and the right for everyone to have a contract that reflects the number of hours they regularly work, based on a 12-week reference period.
Stephanie Compson, also queries what the government means by ‘exploitative’, suggesting the choice of language is “arguably a deliberate one” and that Labour has “softened its approach to zero-hours contracts in a bid to balance the voices from businesses and trade unions from an outright ban to banning only those that shift the balance of flexibility too far so that it is one sided”.
Practical implications of the plan
Compson said that depending on how the new government implements this ban, businesses may look to other working arrangements such as using agency workers, fixed-term contracts or annualised hours to solve their flexible resourcing needs.
“This may increase costs to employers. These arrangements can also take longer to put in place, so businesses will need to have a good grasp of their resourcing demands and plan their resourcing well in advance, which can be difficult in practice where demand by its nature fluctuates, particularly in areas such as hospitality or healthcare,” she explains.
But, Compson adds, any reforms in this space will unlikely be immediate, despite Labour’s promise to introduce legislation within its first 100 days. “Labour has promised to consult in full and any new law would need to go through a legislative process too,” she says.
“We need to see the flesh on the bones of what Labour means by ‘exploitative’ zero-hours contracts and where there will be prohibitions or restrictions… Other proposals set out by Labour will also interact with this.”
