Zero hour contract

[NurseryNurse10]

Am I right in saying that in a zero hour contract you can refuse shifts but also may not be offered them so there is flexibility on both sides?
Being told I must work set number of hours and travel over an hour to different nurseries but never signed anything agreeing to this and nothing in the contract. We get messages from morning till night harassing us into work. I know they want to fill the roles but it's really messing with my mental health. Only doing this while I wait for a suitable nanny role but that's also proving hard as not many roles in my area and don't drive.

It very much depends on the Manager.

What the 'theory' is and what happens in practice are very different things.
Yes, in an ideal world, a zero hours contract can work well , but that tends to be where there is a roughly equivalent expectation between the number of hours you want to work and the number of hours work the employer has that needs covering.
They tend to work where there are loads of people on the books of a big company providing hospitality staff for example - they put a shout out and the first 100 people get the work that weekend. They don't work well when a Nursery chain has ratios to cover and not enough staff to cover the need.

Thanks for the reply.
It's always worded really aggressively that we must work as much as possible and do at least one 8-9 hour shift a week as well as be prepared to travel over an hour. If that's the case then surely we should be put on 8 hour contracts/fixed hours etc...
I never signed anything agreeing to set hours or travel times. Am only on minimum wage. Don't even really want to be doing this but there's definitely been a drop in nanny roles in the past year or so which is what I was previously doing.
😔

Did they mention their expectations of how how many hours you would work in the interview? Usually that would be discussed before a job offer even on a zero hours contract. Would it be possible to speak to a manager about it?

Sorry just noticed your second post, I wouldn’t worry too much about it, the messages your seeing is likely being sent to everyone, I worked for an agency and they were always sending out messages desperate for people to work, I just ignored the messages and only accepted shifts I actually wanted. I would speak to a manager though if your worried

They made it all seem very flexible and my understanding was always that a zero hour contract meant they cannot force you to work set hours and by the same token, they are not obliged to offer hours.
I think I just need to think of another plan as this is only going to get worse...know I shouldn't take it to heart but feel a lot of anxiety everyday when the relentless messages come in getting more and more frustrated and angry as the day goes on with us all.

Your understanding is my understanding too, and your experience is also what I understand to be the majority of zero-hours employees experience.

If the government had any kind of moral code or had any intention of actually improving working people’s lives in this country, zero hours contracts would already be banned

that we must work as much as possible and do at least one 8-9 hour shift a week as well as be prepared to travel over an hour.

I have to say, working a full day in a Nursery, if I had accepted a job that was to work in a Nursery doesn't really sound that unreasonable to me......

If the government had any kind of moral code or had any intention of actually improving working people’s lives in this country, zero hours contracts would already be banned

I disagree with this.
I know so many people for whom they work really well.
Just because some employers don't use them well, doesn't mean they should remove the option for all the people they do work well for.

I'm on a zero hours contract but I pick and choose when I work with no obligation to take shifts. They are all put online and you register for the ones you want to do.

There are doubtless some people for whom it works as intended, but when a significant number are being exploited by it and the powers that be just point at the fact that it works ok for some people as a reason not to do anything about it then I’m sorry but it has to go (or be drastically changed).