Zero-hours contract reforms risk creating more insecure work, says the CIPD

In response to the Government’s consultation on zero-hours contract reforms, Ben Willmott, head of public policy at the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development, said:

“Well-managed zero-hours contracts provide welcome flexibility for employers and people who want to work but cannot commit to fixed hours – including students, carers and those managing health conditions.

“It’s really important that there’s meaningful consultation on these new rights, including the reference period which will be used to decide the number of guaranteed minimum hours a zero-hours contract worker will be entitled to. A longer reference period will be easier for employers to manage, but even with this, the new measures are likely to be extremely complex and challenging to comply with, particularly for small firms or those with fluctuations in demand.

“However, this is only one headache for employers – the challenge of providing reasonable advanced notice of shifts is also likely to prove difficult and require caveats to allow for issues like sickness absence.

“If the final regulations are too difficult to manage, employers will simply find other ways to achieve workforce flexibility. They are likely to rely more on self-employed contractors and fixed term contracts, for example, potentially resulting in more rather than less insecure employment.

“This would also damage opportunities for young people who particularly benefit from zero-hours contract arrangements because they enable them to balance work while studying.”