Employment Rights Act 1996

[F3 27BA Right for qualifying workers to be offered guaranteed hours U.K.

(1) An employer must make a guaranteed hours offer to a worker in accordance with section 27BB after the end of every period—

(a) that is a reference period in relation to that worker and that employer, and

(b) in relation to which the worker is a qualifying worker of the employer.

(2) Section 27BD makes provision for exceptions to this duty, including in certain cases where the worker ceases to be employed by the employer.

(3) A worker is a qualifying worker of an employer in relation to a reference period if—

(a) during the reference period the worker was employed by the employer under one or more worker’s contracts (whether or not continuously) and either—

(i) the worker’s contract was, or the worker’s contracts were, a zero hours contract or entered into in accordance with a zero hours arrangement, or

(ii) the worker’s contract, or the worker’s contracts (taken together), required the employer, or were entered into in accordance with an arrangement that required the employer, to make work available to the worker during the reference period for a number of hours (“the minimum number of hours”) not exceeding a specified number of hours,

(b) during the reference period the worker worked under the worker’s contract or the worker’s contracts (taken together) for a number of hours (the “reference period hours”),

(c) where paragraph (a)(ii) applies, the reference period hours exceeded the minimum number of hours,

(d) the reference period hours satisfy such conditions (or, where paragraph (a)(ii) applies, such further conditions) as to number, regularity or otherwise as are specified, and

(e) when the worker worked the reference period hours, it was not as an excluded worker or an agency worker (but see Part 1 of Schedule A1 for provision about guaranteed hours and agency workers).

(4) In relation to a worker and the worker’s employer, each of the following is a “reference period”—

(a) the initial reference period, and

(b) each subsequent reference period.

(5) “The initial reference period”, in relation to a worker and the worker’s employer, means the period—

(a) beginning with—

(i) where the worker is employed by the employer on the day on which subsection (1) comes into force (“the commencement day”), the commencement day, or

(ii) where the worker is not so employed, the first day after the commencement day on which the worker is employed by the employer, and

(b) ending with the specified day.

(6) A “subsequent reference period”, in relation to a worker and the worker’s employer, means a period beginning and ending with the specified days.

(7) See paragraph 6(4) of Schedule A1 for provision about when the initial reference period is not a reference period in relation to a worker who is a former agency worker and that worker’s employer.

(8) For the purposes of this Chapter—

(a) references to a “qualifying worker” are to a worker who is a qualifying worker of an employer in relation to a reference period by virtue of subsection (3), and

(b) the reference period in relation to which the worker is a qualifying worker of the employer is referred to as “the relevant reference period”.

(9) If, during a reference period—

(a) a worker was employed by an employer under one or more worker’s contracts of the type described in subsection (3)(a)(i) and one or more worker’s contracts of the type described in subsection (3)(a)(ii), and

(b) the hours that the worker worked under the worker’s contract, or the worker’s contracts, that are of the type described in subsection (3)(a)(ii) did not exceed the minimum number of hours,

the worker’s contract, or the worker’s contracts, that are of the type described in subsection (3)(a)(ii) are to be disregarded in the application of this Chapter (other than this subsection) in relation to the worker and the reference period (and accordingly that worker’s contract, or those worker’s contracts, are to be treated as not existing).

(10) Subsection (11) applies where—

(a) a worker’s contract or arrangement requires an employer to make work available to a worker for a number of hours, and

(b) some or all of those hours may be made available either on days falling within a reference period or on days falling within another period (all of the days on which the hours may be so made available together forming the “longer period”).

In subsection (11), “the unassigned hours” are the hours that may be made available at any time during the longer period as described in paragraph (b).

(11) Where this subsection applies—

(a) subsection (3)(a)(ii) is to apply as if the contract or arrangement required the employer to make work available to the worker during the reference period for the apportioned number of the unassigned hours (in addition to any other hours that the employer is required to make available to the worker during the reference period);

(b) “the apportioned number” of the unassigned hours is—

where—

• H is the number of the unassigned hours,

• D1 is the number of days in the reference period that fall within the longer period, and

• D2 is the number of days in the longer period.

(12) Where there is more than one longer period in relation to the same reference period, subsection (11) is to be applied separately in relation to each longer period.

(13) Nothing in this Chapter prevents an employer from making one or more other offers to a qualifying worker, to vary the worker’s terms and conditions of employment or enter into a new worker’s contract, at the same time as making a guaranteed hours offer.

(14) Regulations made under subsection (3)(d), (5) or (6) may, in particular, include provision to take account of time when a worker does not work for a specified reason.

(15) Before making—

(a) the first regulations to be made under subsection (5), the Secretary of State must consult such persons as the Secretary of State considers appropriate about when the initial reference period is to end;

(b) the first regulations to be made under subsection (6), the Secretary of State must consult such persons as the Secretary of State considers appropriate about when a subsequent reference period is to begin and end.

(16) In this section, “excluded worker” means a worker who is of a specified description.]

Textual Amendments

F3 Pt. 2A Ch. 2 inserted (6.1.2026 for specified purposes) by Employment Rights Act 2025 (c. 36), ss. 1(4), 159(3); S.I. 2026/3, reg. 2(2)(a)