What are my rights on a zero hours contract?
Zero hours does not mean zero rights. What you definitely have, what depends on your status, and the one clause that has been unenforceable for years.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 12 min
- Read
- 2 min
Short answer
On a zero hours contract you are at minimum a worker, which means the National Minimum Wage, 5.6 weeks' paid holiday accrued on the hours you work, rest breaks, protection from unlawful deductions and pension auto-enrolment if you qualify. Exclusivity clauses stopping you working elsewhere are unenforceable. What you do not automatically have is guaranteed work.
Step by step
- Confirm you are getting the minimum wage across all worked time.That includes time spent on required training and, in many cases, travel between assignments. It excludes ordinary commuting. Rates change each April and vary by age.
- Check holiday is accruing.You accrue paid holiday on the hours you actually work. Under the current rules for irregular-hours workers this is calculated as a percentage of hours worked in each pay period, and it can be paid as rolled-up holiday pay if it is itemised separately on the payslip.
- Ignore any exclusivity clause.Clauses in zero hours contracts preventing you from working for another employer have been legally unenforceable since 2015, and there is protection against detriment for ignoring them.
- Check whether you have become an employee in practice.A long-running pattern of regular shifts that both sides expect to continue can amount to employment despite the contract's wording, which brings a much wider set of rights. See the guide on employment status.
- Check pension auto-enrolment.Auto-enrolment is based on age and earnings, not on contract type. A zero hours worker earning above the threshold should be assessed and enrolled like anyone else.
- Keep your own record of hours.A simple note of shifts worked, dates and hours is the single most useful thing you can do. It is the evidence for any underpayment or holiday accrual question, and rota systems get changed retrospectively.
- Know what you are not entitled to.Guaranteed hours, pay for shifts cancelled at short notice unless the contract provides for it, and — unless you are found to be an employee — redundancy pay and unfair dismissal protection.
Questions people ask
Do zero hours workers get holiday pay?
Yes. Paid holiday accrues on hours actually worked. The method for irregular-hours workers was changed recently, so check Acas for the current calculation rather than an older explanation.
Can I work somewhere else as well?
Yes. Exclusivity clauses in zero hours contracts are unenforceable, and you are protected from being penalised for working elsewhere.
Can they just stop giving me shifts?
Generally yes, because there is no obligation to offer work — unless the reason is discriminatory, a response to asserting a statutory right, or you have in reality become an employee.