Embracing the new employment era – Webinar series 2025 | Understanding atypical working: 

The Employment Rights Bill seeks to bring about seismic change to the employment law landscape, requiring employers to adapt their current practices and policies.

Our latest webinar focused on atypical working, looking at the impact of employment status, how to determine status and what changes to zero hours and low hours contracts are proposed by the Bill. The key takeaways from the webinar are highlighted below:

Determining employment status

• an individual’s employment status is key to establishing their rights and entitlements, with employees having the most rights.
• however, employment status can be difficult to determine, and various tests have developed through case law. A key element of an employment relationship is mutuality of obligation (the employer must offer work, and the individual must carry out the work). A worker is someone who is self-employed but who is required to provide their personal service.
• the government has proposed removing worker status leaving just employees or the genuinely self-employed. This would result in a significant increase in the rights of a large proportion of the UK workforce who are currently engaged as workers. The government will consult further before introducing any changes in this area.

What changes are proposed under the Employment Rights Bill?

• The Employment Rights Bill seeks to remove uncertainty for individuals engaged under a zero hours or low hours contract. This will include agency workers who meet the qualifying conditions.
• a qualifying worker will, after a set reference period, have the right to be offered a guaranteed hours contract. In addition, a qualifying worker will be entitled to reasonable notice of shifts and any change or cancellation of a shift together with compensation where a shift is cancelled, moved or curtailed at short notice.
• employers will also have to take reasonable steps to ensure such workers are given specified information in relation to their rights during an initial information period.
• much of the detail of how these rights will operate in practice is still to be confirmed in supplementing regulations.
• following amendments to the Bill during its passage through Parliament, it will be possible for employers to enter into a collective bargaining agreement with a union to contract out of these provisions provided that they are replaced with another contractual arrangement.
• the provisions under the Bill will not apply where the work is genuinely temporary, and employers will be able to offer fixed term contracts where it is reasonable to do so.
• workers will have the right to being claims in the employment tribunal for a breach of these obligations.

What should employers be doing now?

• monitor the progress of the Employment Rights Bill and any further amendments made to it as it passes through Parliament.
• audit your current workforce to identify how many workers and agency workers are engaged in the business and identify the impact these new rights could have.
• review and respond to consultations on the detail of these new rights as published.