Zero hours and notice periods

[justnotaballetmum]

AIBU to ask you a quick question about these?

I am on a zero hours contract (although I never actually get zero hours.)

I have decided to leave.

How much notice do I need to give? (I have no idea what my contract says by the way!)

Obv you need to read your contract, but I thought that you didn't have to give notice on a zero hours contract. They are legally entitled not to give you notice of no hours - doesn't it work both ways?

You give you notice with 0 hours.

Its what I did, they asked if I could work the week, I said no, they said it was in my contract so I said OK, and said I am unavailable to work, but here is my notice.

That's what I thought, but legally I don't think there's much they can do if just decide to go but wondered if anyone knew differently.

On a 0 hr contract you are under no obligation to accept hours. So just don't accept any hours beyond the time you want to leave.

They can't legally force you to work a 'notice period' unless you've already accepted the hours for during that period, as that's forcing you to accept hours you don't want.

If it's all a bit informal and there's no record that you've accepted any hours, then legally that's their problem, but obviously you'll make a decision based on future references etc.

I had a zero hours job for a week.

They treated me like crap so I called them the evening of my last shift and told them I wasn't coming back the next morning.

It was not an issue.

We get a rota through, usually the day before

They can't dictate your hours on a 0 hour contract. The rota legally can only be an offer of hours, and you decide whether you want to take them.

You need to read your contract but I don't think you need any. That said if they've generally been nice to you and you are counting on a good reference I think appropriate to give them 2-4 weeks. If they've treated you like shit however just go.

Surely If it is a zero hours contract (no obligation for either party to provide hours) and you have a notice period of say, 4 weeks, you could give 4 weeks notice at zero hours.

A week is usually considered resonable, you may need to rely on them for a reference etc, so it may be worth considering some notice or this may not be forthcoming.

How can you not know what your contaract says? Have you lost it?