Answers · UK 2025/26

What employment rights do zero-hours contract workers have in the UK?

Zero-hours workers are entitled to the National Living/Minimum Wage for hours actually worked, paid holiday accrued at 12.07% of hours worked, rest breaks, and protection from unfair treatment for refusing offered work. They are not guaranteed any minimum hours, but under the Employment Rights Act reforms, employers must offer guaranteed-hours contracts to workers with regular hours over a defined reference period.

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A zero-hours contract is an employment arrangement where the employer is not obliged to offer a minimum number of hours, and the worker is not obliged to accept any hours offered. Despite the lack of guaranteed hours, zero-hours workers retain significant statutory rights. **Pay rights** Zero-hours workers must be paid at least the National Living Wage (£12.71/hour for workers 21 and over in 2026/27) or the relevant National Minimum Wage rate for their age band, for every hour actually worked, including required travel time between assignments in some cases (though not ordinary home-to-work commuting). **Holiday pay** Zero-hours workers accrue paid holiday at the standard statutory rate of 12.07% of hours worked (reflecting 5.6 weeks' statutory annual leave spread across the working year). For irregular-hours workers, holiday pay can be calculated using rolled-up holiday pay -- an extra 12.07% added to each payslip -- rather than waiting to take a block of leave, following the Employment Rights reforms. **No obligation to accept work** A genuine zero-hours worker cannot be penalised, dismissed, or treated less favourably for turning down hours offered to them -- this is an explicit statutory protection, since the whole basis of a zero-hours arrangement is that acceptance of work is optional on both sides. **Exclusivity clauses banned** Since 2015, it has been unlawful for an employer to include an exclusivity clause in a zero-hours contract preventing the worker from also working for other employers -- zero-hours workers are free to take multiple jobs. **Rest breaks and working time** Zero-hours workers are covered by the Working Time Regulations, entitling them to a 20-minute rest break for shifts over 6 hours, at least 11 hours' rest between working days, and a maximum 48-hour average working week (unless they opt out). **Guaranteed hours reform** Under the Employment Rights Act reforms being phased in, employers must offer workers who have worked regular hours over a defined reference period (expected to be 12 weeks) a contract reflecting those hours, giving long-serving zero-hours workers a route to a more predictable, guaranteed-hours contract if they want one. Workers can still choose to remain on a zero-hours basis if they prefer the flexibility. **Reasonable notice of shifts and cancellations** New rules also require employers to give reasonable notice of shifts, and to pay compensation if a shift is cancelled or curtailed at short notice, reducing the previous risk of zero-hours workers losing expected income with no recourse. **Sick pay and other statutory rights** Zero-hours workers who meet the qualifying conditions (including the removal of the earnings floor from April 2026) are entitled to Statutory Sick Pay, and those classed as employees (rather than simply "workers") also build up rights such as protection from unfair dismissal after two years' continuous service, though continuity of service can be harder to establish with irregular working patterns.