Businesses must act before 25 August 2026 and grab their chance to influence how the new law is to be implemented.

Published: 24 June 2026
Authors: Simon Fennell

The government has launched a consultation on the detailed rules that will underpin its proposed reforms to zero hours, low hours and agency worker contracts; it forms part of the government’s wider Make Work Pay agenda and is intended to inform how the relevant provisions of the Employment Rights Act 2025 will be implemented.

The Act sets the broad structure. The consultation is about the detail, including who will qualify and how the rights will be triggered and it is therefore crucial that businesses engage in the process to influence how they want the new law to work.

This is more than a technical consultation. The framework has already been set by legislation, but many of the most important operational details remain unresolved. This means that the true impact of these changes is yet to be determined. Employers that genuinely engage with the consultation have an opportunity to explain how the proposed rights may work in real workplaces, where flexibility is often needed to manage fluctuating demand, seasonal peaks, absence cover, project work and customer needs and therefore influence the government’s approach and ultimately how much impact these changes have to current working practices.

This consultation feels different; in contrast to the process run in connection to trade union access which was very clear about the direction of travel, this is much more open with the government seemingly willing to react positively to well considered responses.

What is included in the consultation?

The consultation focuses on the measures in the Employment Rights Act 2025 that are designed to end what the government describes as ‘one-sided flexibility’. In broad terms, those measures create three new rights for qualifying workers:

• a right to be offered guaranteed hours, where the number of hours offered reflects the hours worked during a reference period
• a right to reasonable notice of shifts and changes to shifts
• a right to payment where shifts are cancelled, curtailed or moved at short notice.

The consultation asks questions which will be significant for employers that rely on variable hours models including:

• the hours threshold for low hours contracts to be caught by the new provisions
• the length of the reference period used to calculate guaranteed hours
• how regularity of work during the reference period should be assessed
• whether any categories of worker should be excluded
• how the rules should apply where a temporary need arises, such as seasonal work or short-term cover.

Agency worker arrangements are also a central part of the consultation. Because agency work involves a relationship between the worker, the agency and the hirer, the practical questions are more complex. Businesses will need to consider how guaranteed hours offers might be made, who should bear responsibility for compliance, how notice obligations should operate, and how cost and risk may be allocated across the supply chain.

Why responding matters

The direction of travel is clear: new protections for zero hours, low hours and agency workers are coming. However, the final shape of the regime is not yet fixed. That is why this consultation matters. The government is asking for evidence about how the proposals will work in practice and how to strike the right balance between improving security for workers and preserving flexibility for businesses and workers who genuinely value it.

Businesses which respond with practical, evidence-based submissions have a real opportunity to influence the outcome. General concerns are unlikely to carry as much weight as concrete examples, data and workable alternatives. Employers should explain where thresholds, time periods or notice requirements may create unintended consequences, and suggest proportionate solutions which maintain predictability for workers without undermining legitimate operational flexibility.

What should businesses do now?

We know change is coming and therefore in addition to responding to the consultation, employers should:

• audit current use of zero hours, low hours and agency worker arrangements
• identify where variable staffing models are essential to business operations
• assess how different hours thresholds or reference periods would affect workforce planning
• gather evidence of seasonal demand, fluctuating customer need, absence cover or project-based requirements
• consider the commercial and legal impact of the proposed rules on agency supply arrangements
• prepare a consultation response which is practical, specific and supported by evidence.

The consultation closes on 25 August 2026. Employers should not assume that the detail is inevitable or that their response will not make a difference. This is the stage at which businesses can help shape the practical rules that will govern the future use of zero hours, low hours and agency worker arrangements. Meaningful engagement now may make the difference between a regime that is workable in practice and one that creates avoidable uncertainty, cost and complexity.

If your business will be significantly impacted by these changes and you would like to discuss your response to the consultation or get involved in the submission that Shoosmiths is planning to submit to the government, please contact Simon Fennell as soon as possible.

For further background, read and listen to the following:

• Agency work redefined: GHO’s real-world impact

• Agency work redefined: Guaranteed hours on the horizon

• Zero-hours contracts: What's next?

• Shoospeak HR: Flexible or fragile? Changes to zero-hour contracts

• Shoospeak HR: Temps, timesheets and tension - agency work after zero hours reform