Government plans for more certain working hours for employees

The new Labour government has scrapped the Conservative bill that gives workers the right to request a predictable working pattern, in favour of stronger, more certain working hours.

As well as favouring more certain working hours, the government also plan to consult on a four-day working week and the ‘right to switch off’.

Since the current government came into power, there has been widespread coverage on the employment law changes it plans to make based on ‘Labour’s Plan to Make Work Pay’.

In its plan published prior to the election, Labour committed to getting more people into work by ending “‘one-sided’ flexibility and ensure all jobs provide a baseline level of security and predictability, banning exploitative zero-hours contracts, ensuring everyone has the right to have a contract that reflects the number of hours they regularly work.”

They also aim “to offer significant opportunity to fit work around family life” amongst other plans to improve workers’ employment rights.

In our previous article following the King’s speech in July, we covered the proposed changes to employment law. Following Labour’s election, we queried whether the Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023 – passed by their Conservative predecessors – would come into force as expected in September.

It has now been reported that the new government plans to shelve this law, and instead proposes to allow workers to ‘expect’ the hours as a term in their employment contracts. This means instead of the onus being on the worker to request predictable terms (which does not guarantee any request being granted), the worker can expect the working pattern they have been working as a contractual right from their employer.

This will bring the certainty for workers and will particularly affect those who do not have set contractual hours, such as casual workers and those on zero-hours contracts. It once again reinforces the need for employers to have clear and unambiguous contractual terms in workers’ contracts.

How this right will work in practice – and whether a qualifying period will be required beyond the 12-week reference period – is not yet clear.

In addition, the new government also plans to consult on a potential automatic right to request a four-day compressed working week, and the ‘right to switch off’ which are further measures to bring into fruition its plan to make work pay.

The Employment Rights Bill will be an interesting read when it is expected to start its journey through Parliament this autumn, so keep an eye on our website for more details when we have them.  

Our expert team will also be running an employment law update in October, so watch this space.

Our Legal 500-rated employment law & business immigration team are experts in guiding businesses of all sizes and backgrounds through a range of issues that may arise, including those related to updated legislation.