Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Zero Hours definition

What does Zero Hours mean? Zero hours describes an arrangement where work is offered only if and when the engager has shifts or assignments, with no guarantee that any work will be provided. In Great Britain, the term is defined for specific purposes in section 27A Employment Rights Act 1996: a contract of employment or a worker’s contract where the obligation to work is conditional on work being made available and there is no certainty that it will be. In practice, zero hours contracts are used for irregular or on‑demand staffing. There is usually no mutuality of obligation between assignments, and the individual may typically...

Zero hours contracts: status, mutuality, continuity and umbrella contracts; NMW, working time, holiday, SSP; discrimination, part-time rights; auto-enrolment, TUPE; and forthcoming Employment Rights Act 2025 reforms

Published by a LexisNexis Employment expert

Practice notes

Zero hours contracts

This Practice Note explores the characteristics of zero hours contracts, including:

absence of mutuality of obligation
casual workers
as required or as needed
employment Contract without obligation
piece work
on-call arrangements
flexibility
over-arching or umbrella contracts
assignments
employee or worker status
continuity of employment
national minimum wage (NMW)
statutory sick pay (SSP)
working time and holiday entitlement and accrual
discrimination protection
part-time workers
pension auto-enrolment
TUPE 2006
the pros and cons of zero hours contracts

It does not address the statutory protections available to workers and employees on zero hours contracts and on lower incomes, relating to unenforceable exclusivity clauses and protection from detriment and unfair dismissal. These are considered separately in Practice Note: Exclusivity clauses—protections for low-income and Zero Hours workers.

In this Practice Note, the term ‘employer’ means the hiring party in a contract for work, whether or not the individual engaged is an employee or a worker. We generally use ‘worker’ (which includes an ‘employee’ in the narrower sense) for the individual performing the work, unless the context requires ‘employee’.

For a sample zero hours contract: for an employee, see Precedent: Clauses—zero...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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