Zero hours contracts in the UK: the rules for employers in 2026, and what changes in 2027

What a zero hours contract is

A zero hours contract guarantees no hours. gov.uk puts it simply: the worker is on call to work when the employer needs them, the employer does not have to give them work, and the worker does not have to accept it. About the only thing the contract fixes is the rate of pay and the fact that, when work is offered and accepted, the person is working for you.

That flexibility is real, and so is the list of rights that come with it. This guide sets out what a zero hours worker is owed today, what the contract cannot do, how to run the rota so the paperwork holds up, and what the Employment Rights Act 2025 changes from 2027. General information, not legal advice; the rules below are those in force in September 2026.

Worker or employee? It depends on what actually happens

Most zero hours staff are workers: they have a contract to do work personally, they are not running their own business, and they get the core rights below. Some are employees, with the extra protections that brings (statutory notice, redundancy pay, unfair dismissal rights after the qualifying period), because in practice the work is regular, they are expected to turn up and you are expected to offer shifts. The label on the contract does not decide it; a tribunal looks at what happened week to week.

The practical consequence: treat every zero hours worker as having at least the rights below, and if someone has worked a steady pattern for months, plan on the basis that they may be an employee.

The rights every zero hours worker has in 2026

Minimum wage. £12.71 an hour for 21 and over from April 2026, £10.85 for 18 to 20, £8.00 for under-18s and apprentices, averaged over each pay reference period. Time spent on required training, and time on call at the workplace waiting for work, counts as working time.

Paid holiday. 5.6 weeks a year, like everyone else. For leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024 it accrues at 12.07% of the hours worked in each pay period, and you may pay it as rolled-up holiday pay (12.07% on top, shown as a separate line on the payslip) or when the leave is taken. The numbers are in zero hours contract holiday pay.

Rest and limits. The Working Time Regulations apply in full: a 20-minute break on a shift over 6 hours, 11 hours between shifts, 24 hours off a week or 48 a fortnight, a 48-hour average maximum unless the person has opted out in writing, and tighter limits for under-18s. All eight rules: the Working Time Regulations and your rota.

Sick pay. Statutory Sick Pay applies to anyone treated as an employed earner for PAYE, which includes most zero hours staff. Since 6 April 2026 it is paid from the first day of sickness, with no minimum earnings: 80% of average weekly earnings, or £123.25 a week, whichever is lower, for up to 28 weeks. The old three waiting days and the earnings threshold are gone.

A written statement of terms. Workers, not only employees, must receive the main terms in writing on or before the first day: pay, hours (including that there are none guaranteed), the days and times they may be required, holiday, sick pay, notice, and any training requirement.

Pension. Automatic enrolment applies once earnings pass the trigger (£10,000 a year in the relevant scheme) for staff aged 22 to State Pension age; below that, staff can ask to join and may be entitled to employer contributions depending on earnings. Variable earnings mean assessing each pay period.

Freedom to work elsewhere. Exclusivity clauses in zero hours contracts are unenforceable. gov.uk is explicit: the worker can ignore a term that bans them from looking for or accepting work from another employer, and cannot be penalised for doing so.

Protection against discrimination and less favourable treatment. Equality Act protections apply. Under the Part-time Workers Regulations, a zero hours worker doing the same job as a full-timer must not get worse terms per hour without a justification.

Payslips and records. An itemised payslip showing hours where pay varies by time worked, and records that show the minimum wage and working time limits were met, kept for the statutory periods.

What the contract cannot do

• It cannot pay below the minimum wage by calling the person self-employed while treating them as staff.
• It cannot withhold holiday pay, or bury it in the hourly rate without a separate payslip line.
• It cannot ban other work.
• It cannot require someone to be available at all times without pay. Being required to wait on the premises is working time; being free to do as they like at home is not.
• It cannot sidestep the Working Time Regulations. A zero hours worker who does 50-hour weeks has the same 48-hour average limit as anyone.
• It cannot be changed one-sidedly. Rate cuts and new terms need agreement, in writing.

Cancelling and changing shifts in 2026

There is no statutory compensation in 2026 for a shift cancelled before it starts, unless the contract provides one. Hours already worked must be paid, and if a worker turns up because a shift was confirmed and is sent home, paying for the shift is the norm in most workplaces and the safest reading of the contract. Many employers already pay a minimum of two or three hours for a cancelled shift; from 2027 some payment becomes a legal requirement (next section).

The employer-side risk today is the pattern, not the individual cancellation: a worker who has had shifts cancelled repeatedly after refusing others may argue they were penalised for exercising a right, and regular last-minute changes are the main reason zero hours staff leave.

What changes: the Employment Rights Act 2025

The Act does not abolish zero hours contracts. It adds three rights for zero hours and low hours workers, which the government has said will apply from 2027, with the details to be set in regulations that were still under consultation in mid-2026:

1. A guaranteed hours offer. After a reference period, the employer must offer a contract with guaranteed hours reflecting the hours actually worked in that period. The worker can accept or refuse. The offer repeats at the end of each reference period while hours stay above the guarantee.
2. Reasonable notice of shifts, and of changes to them, with compensation where notice is unreasonably short.
3. Payment for shifts cancelled, moved or cut short at short notice.

The rights are expected to extend to agency workers. What "reasonable" means, the length of the reference period and the compensation amounts are the parts still being consulted on; the direction is settled.

Two things follow for an employer now. First, the guaranteed hours offer will be calculated from the hours each person actually worked, so a clean record of those hours from today onwards is the basis for every offer you will have to make. Second, if a worker has averaged 18 hours a week for months, they are already doing an 18-hour job; putting that in writing before the law requires it costs little and is what keeps them.

Running the rota so the paperwork holds up

• Publish the rota at least two weeks ahead, on the same day every week. It removes most disputes about notice before they start.
• Log offers and refusals. A short record of shifts offered, accepted and declined protects both sides and will matter under the 2027 rules.
• Record hours actually worked, not the rota. Holiday accrual, the minimum wage check, SSP averages and the future guaranteed hours offer all start from that figure.
• Show the holiday line on every payslip if you use rolled-up holiday pay.
• Review averages every quarter. Anyone consistently above a threshold is a candidate for a contract with guaranteed hours now.
• Write the break into every shift over 6 hours and check the 11 hours between a close and the next open.

The rota planner does the mechanical part: the rota goes out as a link the team opens on their phone, hours are recorded when people clock in, holiday accrues per person at 12.07%, and the average hours per worker over any period are one click away. The free rota templates cover the same ground in a spreadsheet if you would rather start there. What an hour of zero hours staff costs once holiday, National Insurance and pension are added: the UK employee cost calculator.

*Sources: gov.uk, "Contract types and employer responsibilities: zero-hours contracts"; gov.uk, National Minimum Wage rates from April 2026; gov.uk, Statutory Sick Pay and "Sickness absences that start before and end on or after 6 April 2026"; gov.uk, "Holiday pay and entitlement reforms from 1 January 2024"; Acas, Employment Rights Act 2025. Rules current as of September 2026.*