Right to Guaranteed Hours: What UK Employers Need to Do

The right to guaranteed hours is one of the most significant changes in the Employment Rights Act 2025. Expected in Autumn 2026 as part of the ERA 2025 Wave 2 rollout, this new right will require employers to offer guaranteed hours contracts to workers who regularly work more than their contracted minimum.

If your business uses zero hours or low hours contracts, you need to start preparing now. Not when the regulations drop. Now.

Last updated: April 2026

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Right to Guaranteed Hours Employer Guide 2026: What Is Changing

Under the ERA 2025, workers on zero hours and low hours contracts will gain the legal right to be offered a contract reflecting the hours they actually work. This is not a ban on zero hours contracts. Workers can still choose flexibility. But employers will be legally obligated to make the offer.

Here is how it works:

• A reference period applies. The government will define a lookback window (expected to be 12 weeks, subject to secondary legislation). If a worker has been consistently working a pattern of hours over that period, the employer must offer a guaranteed hours contract reflecting those hours.
• The offer must be proactive. Employers cannot wait for workers to ask. You must identify qualifying workers and make the offer automatically.
• Workers can decline. If a worker prefers to stay on zero hours, they can say no. The obligation is to offer, not to impose.
• Low hours contracts are included. Someone contracted for 5 hours a week but regularly working 25 is in scope for the gap between contracted and actual hours.
• Agency workers are covered. The rules extend to agency workers in certain circumstances, with obligations potentially split between agency and hirer.

What Counts as "Regular" Hours

The exact definition will come in secondary legislation. The government has indicated that genuinely irregular, ad hoc work will likely not trigger the obligation. The test will focus on whether a discernible, repeating pattern exists over the reference period.

A care worker reliably doing 20 hours every week for three months: clearly a pattern. A student picking up random shifts every few weeks: probably not. The grey area in between is where the secondary legislation matters most.

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When Is This Coming Into Force?

The guaranteed hours provisions are part of Wave 2 of the ERA 2025 implementation. Wave 1 changes (SSP from day one, enhanced parental leave rights, collective redundancy protective award increase) took effect in April 2026.

Wave 2 is expected in Autumn 2026 and includes the right to guaranteed hours, strengthened flexible working, restrictions on fire and rehire, and zero hours shift notice requirements.

Draft statutory instruments are expected in summer 2026. Exact dates depend on parliamentary scheduling and the pace of consultation responses.

What is confirmed vs what is pending:

• Confirmed in primary legislation: The right to guaranteed hours exists in the ERA 2025 (Royal Assent received)
• Confirmed: Workers can decline the offer and remain on zero hours
• Confirmed: Low hours contracts are covered, not just zero hours
• Pending secondary legislation: Length of reference period
• Pending secondary legislation: Definition of "regular" hours pattern
• Pending secondary legislation: Treatment of seasonal and genuinely variable work
• Pending secondary legislation: Specific agency worker obligations
• Pending secondary legislation: Enforcement mechanisms and penalties for non-compliance

For a full breakdown of all ERA 2025 changes across both waves, see our Employment Rights Act 2025 employer guide.

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Guaranteed Hours Contract Employer Obligations: Who Is Affected

Every employer using zero hours or low hours contracts is potentially in scope. Some sectors will be hit harder.

Social care. One of the largest users of zero hours contracts in the UK. Many care workers have been doing full-time-equivalent hours on zero hours terms for years. The guaranteed hours right will convert thousands of these arrangements into fixed contractual obligations. Providers on thin margins will need to model cost impact carefully.

Hospitality. Restaurants, bars, and hotels rely on flexible labour, but front-of-house and kitchen staff frequently work consistent weekly patterns. If your Saturday night team has been the same five people for six months, they will likely qualify.

Retail. Weekend and evening patterns covered by zero hours workers who work the same hours every week. Large retailers with hundreds of zero hours staff face a significant administrative exercise.

Education. Sessional lecturers, supply teachers, and teaching assistants on zero hours terms. Regular term-time patterns across multiple terms could trigger the guaranteed hours requirement.

Logistics and warehousing. Depot and warehouse operations with consistent staffing needs but nominally flexible contracts are squarely in scope.

There is no small employer exemption. Whether you have 3 zero hours workers or 3,000, the obligation applies equally. For smaller businesses, the operational impact may be proportionally larger because you have less HR infrastructure to manage the transition.

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What Employers Need to Do Now

You have months, not years. If you wait for the regulations to be published before acting, you will be scrambling. Here is a practical preparation plan.

1. Audit Your Zero Hours Workforce

Pull together a complete picture of every worker on a zero hours or low hours contract. For each person, establish their contracted hours, average actual hours over the past 12 and 26 weeks, whether a regular pattern exists, and their department and role.

This audit is the foundation. You cannot plan without knowing how many workers will qualify and what hours they would be entitled to. Our ERA 2025 employer checklist walks through each step.

2. Model the Financial Impact

Guaranteed hours mean guaranteed pay, even in quiet periods. Factor in:

• Base pay obligations for guaranteed hours regardless of demand
• Holiday pay calculated on the new guaranteed hours basis
• Pension auto-enrolment if guaranteed hours push workers above qualifying earnings
• SSP liability from day one (already live since April 2026)
• Potential redundancy costs if you later need to reduce hours

3. Review and Update Contracts

Remove any remaining exclusivity clauses (already unlawful since 2015, but some contracts still contain them). Ensure all contracts include a clear written statement of employment particulars. Prepare template guaranteed hours contract variations ready to issue when the regulations land.

4. Fix Record-Keeping and Scheduling

The guaranteed hours right depends on accurate records of hours actually worked. You need reliable digital time tracking, the ability to run rolling reference period reports, and a system to flag when workers cross into guaranteed hours territory. If your time tracking is patchy or paper-based, invest in proper time and attendance software now.

5. Train Your Managers

Line managers schedule shifts and manage working patterns. They need to understand the guaranteed hours right, how their scheduling decisions create future obligations, and that they must not try to game the system by rotating workers to prevent patterns forming. Anti-avoidance measures in the legislation will likely address deliberate pattern-breaking.

6. Consider Early Voluntary Conversion

Some employers are getting ahead by voluntarily converting consistent zero hours workers onto guaranteed hours now. The advantages: you control the timing and terms, workers feel valued and are more likely to stay, and you remove the risk of scrambling when regulations land. The downside is reduced flexibility, but if a worker has been reliably doing 30 hours a week for a year, the flexibility was already theoretical.

For broader context on zero hours contract changes, including shift notice requirements and cancellation compensation, see our full guide.

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Anti-Avoidance: What You Cannot Do

The ERA 2025 includes anti-avoidance provisions. While detailed regulations are pending, the direction is clear.

• Rotating workers to prevent patterns forming will likely be caught by anti-avoidance rules
• Dismissing workers to avoid the obligation would almost certainly be automatically unfair dismissal, which carries no qualifying service period
• Pressuring workers to decline could give rise to claims of unlawful detriment
• Reducing hours to avoid the threshold is likely to constitute detriment for asserting a statutory right

The guaranteed hours right is designed to regularise working arrangements that are already regular in practice. Engineering around it is both legally risky and operationally counterproductive.

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How This Connects to Other ERA 2025 Changes

The guaranteed hours right does not exist in isolation. It sits within a broader package of employment reforms.

Day one unfair dismissal rights (2027). Workers on guaranteed hours contracts will immediately have unfair dismissal protection once the two-year qualifying period is removed.

Flexible working as a strengthened default (Autumn 2026). Workers can request changes to their guaranteed hours from day one, with refusals requiring clear business reasons. See our flexible working requests guide.

Fire and rehire restrictions (Autumn 2026). Changing guaranteed hours contracts later will be harder under the new fire and rehire rules. Plan contract variations carefully.

SSP from day one (April 2026, already live). Workers on guaranteed hours will be entitled to SSP from their first day of sickness absence, with no lower earnings limit.

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Get Ahead of the Guaranteed Hours Changes

Get ahead of the guaranteed hours changes. The EmployerKit Audit checks your existing zero hours contracts against ERA 2025 requirements. From £49. Visit employerkit.com/tools/employerkit-audit.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q: When does the right to guaranteed hours come into force?

A: The right is expected in Autumn 2026 as part of Wave 2 of the ERA 2025 implementation. The primary legislation has Royal Assent. Only the secondary legislation (setting the reference period length, definitions, and commencement date) remains to be finalised. Draft regulations are expected in summer 2026.

Q: Will zero hours contracts be banned?

A: No. The ERA 2025 creates a right for workers to be offered guaranteed hours, but workers can decline and remain on zero hours. Employers can continue using zero hours contracts, but must have processes to identify qualifying workers and make offers at regular intervals.

Q: What happens if a worker declines the guaranteed hours offer?

A: They remain on their existing contract. The employer's obligation is to make the offer, not force acceptance. Employers will likely need to repeat the offer after each reference period so workers can accept later if circumstances change. The decision to decline must be genuinely voluntary with no employer pressure.

Q: How will guaranteed hours affect holiday pay?

A: Once a worker moves to a guaranteed hours contract, holiday pay should be calculated on the guaranteed hours basis rather than their previously variable actual hours. This may increase holiday pay obligations for some workers. Factor this into your financial modelling when assessing the cost impact of the guaranteed hours right.

Q: Does this apply to agency workers?

A: Yes, the ERA 2025 extends the right to agency workers in certain circumstances. Obligations may be split between the agency and hirer. Detailed rules are subject to secondary legislation and ongoing consultation. Discuss implications with your agency suppliers once regulations are published.

Q: Our zero hours work is genuinely irregular. Are we still affected?

A: Potentially not for those specific workers. The right targets workers with regular patterns despite flexible contracts. Genuinely irregular, unpredictable hours with no discernible pattern may not trigger the obligation. But you will need accurate time records to demonstrate this, rather than simply asserting it.

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This article is for general guidance only and does not constitute legal advice. The details of the guaranteed hours right depend on secondary legislation not yet finalised. Seek professional legal advice for your specific circumstances.