Zero-hour contracts are changing in 2027. Here’s what to do now

Zero-hour contracts have worked well for a lot of UK businesses. They offer genuine flexibility: for employers managing variable demand and for workers who want control over their hours. If you use them, you’ve probably valued that flexibility for years.

But the rules are changing, and the timeline is tighter than many business owners realise.

The Employment Rights Act 2025 is the biggest overhaul of UK employment law in a generation, and one of its most significant changes affects zero-hours and low-hours workers directly. If you employ people on these contracts, whether in hospitality, retail, construction, care, or any other sector, you need to understand what’s coming and start preparing now, not in 2027.

What’s actually changing?

Under the Employment Rights Act 2025, workers on zero-hour and low-hours contracts will gain the right to request a guaranteed hours contract that reflects their regular working pattern.

In plain terms: if someone has been working consistent hours for you over a reference period, you’ll need to offer them a contract that reflects those hours. The Government recently opened a consultation on the precise mechanics of how this will work, which tells us implementation is still being shaped, but the direction of travel is clear, and 2027 is the target.

A few things worth knowing now:

This isn’t a ban on zero-hour contracts. Flexible working arrangements aren’t going away. The change is about recognising when a working pattern has become regular, and giving workers a contract that reflects that reality.

The obligation is to offer, not to impose. Workers will be able to decline a guaranteed hours contract if they prefer to stay flexible. The duty falls on you as an employer to make the offer, not to force a change.

The Fair Work Agency is already watching. From April 2026, the newly established Fair Work Agency has been overseeing enforcement of the Employment Rights Act.

Who does this affect?

If you have workers on zero-hour or low-hours contracts who turn up on a regular basis, this affects you.

Think about the hospitality worker who does Friday and Saturday every week. The warehouse operative who covers the same shifts month after month. The care worker whose rota barely changes. On paper, they’re flexible. In practice, they have a regular pattern, and under the new rules, that pattern creates an obligation on your part.

Sectors that should pay particular attention:

• Hospitality and leisure: high use of zero hours arrangements, often with settled patterns underneath
• Retail: part-time and zero hours staff with predictable rota requirements
• Construction: subcontractor-style arrangements and variable-hours site workers
• Care and health: regular visiting patterns that look very much like fixed hours in practice
• Education and training: sessional staff working consistent timetables

Even the smallest businesses aren’t exempt. If you have one member of staff on a zero-hour contract who works the same days every week, this applies to you too.

What does “offering a guaranteed hours contract” mean in practice?

This is where the detail matters, and where many businesses will need support.

The obligation starts with understanding your workforce’s actual working patterns. That requires a reference period, a defined window of time over which you assess whether a worker has been working regular hours. The Government’s consultation will confirm the exact length of that period, but the principle is clear: if the pattern is consistent, a guaranteed hours offer should follow.

A compliant offer will need to:

• Reflect the hours the worker has been working in practice
• Be made within a defined timeframe after the reference period ends
• Give the worker a genuine opportunity to accept or decline

Getting this wrong carries real risk. Employment tribunal claims relating to zero-hour reforms will fall under the new framework, and with the Fair Work Agency now active, the scrutiny on employer compliance has increased.

Three things to do before 2027

You don’t need to overhaul your entire workforce today, but you do need to start moving. These three steps will put you in a far stronger position.

Audit your zero-hour workforce

Pull together a clear picture of who you employ on zero or low-hour contracts, and what their working patterns actually look like. Are there people who are effectively working fixed hours? Are there arrangements that have drifted into regularity over time? This audit will tell you where the obligations are likely to land.

Review your contracts and documentation

Many zero-hour contracts in circulation were drafted years ago and don’t account for the new obligations. A contract review now, before the legal requirements take effect, lets you make changes calmly rather than under deadline pressure. Our employment law team can work through your documentation and identify what needs updating.

Build a process for tracking and offering

When the rules come into force, you’ll need a mechanism for monitoring reference periods, identifying when an offer obligation arises, and documenting the offer and the worker’s response. This doesn’t need to be complicated, but it does need to be consistent. If you have HR technology in place, now is a good time to check whether it can support this kind of workforce tracking.

Why acting now matters

We’ve been supporting UK businesses through employment law changes for 20 years. The ones who struggle most are those who wait until a new rule is weeks away before they start thinking about it.

The businesses that come out of these transitions well are the ones who’ve given themselves time to understand the rules, review their contracts, train their managers, and build the right processes. That time exists right now.

The Employment Rights Act 2025 covers a lot of ground, and zero hours reforms are one part of a broader picture that includes unfair dismissal changes, fire and rehire restrictions, and extended tribunal time limits. If you haven’t yet done a full review of your HR and employment law exposure against the new Act, this is worth prioritising.

We’re already helping clients work through this

At Vero HR, we’ve been helping clients understand the Employment Rights Act 2025 since it received Royal Assent: what it means for their specific workforce, what needs to change in their contracts and processes, and how to get ahead of each wave of implementation.

If you’re unsure how the zero-hour changes affect your business, or you’d like to talk through your current workforce setup, get in touch with our team. We’ll give you a clear picture of where you stand and what needs to happen next.