Zero-hours contract reforms could increase insecure work, warns CIPD

Proposed reforms to zero-hours contracts could lead employers to rely more heavily on alternative forms of flexible labour, potentially increasing insecure work rather than reducing it, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

Responding to the Government’s consultation on zero-hours contract reforms, the CIPD said the planned measures could create significant administrative and compliance challenges for employers.

Ben Willmott, head of public policy at the CIPD, 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.”

The CIPD highlighted concerns over how guaranteed hours would be calculated, particularly the reference period used to determine minimum entitlements for workers.

“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,” Willmott said.

“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.”

Willmott also said proposals requiring employers to provide advance notice of shifts could prove difficult to manage in practice.

He added: “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.