Zero Hours Contract

[MikeRafone]

Posting here for traffic

I have a zero hours contract, this is because I took the job as a summer job to fill in last year. I work in a housekeeping capacity and they call me when they have annual leave to cover, business peaks or sickness. I love the job and the freedom it offers. I don't want or need to work every week and will let them now if I can't work due to being away or have other commitment - they also use agency staff (but because they are more expensive they alway call on me first) I get holiday pay and just ask for it when I want it to be paid up to date - so did this in December.

The law is going to change to no longer being able to have zero hours contracts

what do I do?

Can I work as "self employed one person agency staff" and just charge the 12% extra on top of my hourly rate for holiday pay YANBU

Or do I have to lose my job? YABU

You don't have to lose your job. You can work as a freelancer. How you calculate a holiday pay is up to you and can be negotiated with the company i.e. divvy up your average annual holiday pay between you r average annual hours worked. It will be no extra expense to them even if you raise your hourly rate accordingly.

Sign up with agency they use?

my second job is zero hours, which suits me as a have a different full time job, but I didn’t know zero hours contracts were going to be stopped. I’ve had a very quick Google and can’t find any info. Where can I find more info?

The law is changing to abolish ‘unfair’ zero hour contracts as far as I understand. Why would yours be terminated?

My daughter currently has a 2nd zero hours contract job. It used to be a student job but she's full time elsewhere on a gap year now. She's kept the zero hours on and does roughly one/two shifts per month because when she starts uni in September she can apply to transfer to the same workplace in the university city whereas she can't for her current full time job.

I hope some provision is made for casual/temp staff.

Please post a link confirming that zero hours contracts will be abolished

www.lewissilkin.com/en/insights/new-deal-talking-points-how-is-labour-proposing-to-rebalance-onesided-flexibility

I absolutely agree.
we employ zero hours staff when we get an extra contract, when all the parents want more time off in school holidays at once, when sickness hits.

so no zero hours - means parents on a rota for 1 week leave max in July/aug, no taking extra contracts, so no overtime to save for holidays etc…..

Set up as self employed. It's not too onerous although you'll need to keep records, prepare accounts, pay tax etc. Set your own rate. Don't call yourself an agency when you're not

Or, simpler option, sign up with the agency, if they would do the paperwork for you

Or, wait to see what materialises. I think zero hours contracts like yours are ok. The ones we should clamp down on are where employer holds all the cards

Having had to dig around a bit to even find the information - it looks like you're employer can still offer you a 0 hours contract if you're happy with it.

And this is only IF and WHEN it comes in.

It'll cause a whole lot of problems for a whole lot of industries so if and when it gets passed I would hope that it is after a lot of discussion and guidance is issued to help employer and employees figure things out and that there is a suitable "handover" period

Labour haven’t made a recent statement and their approach has been evolving, we will have to wait and see in a few months time.

The article above isn’t a Labour press release but a think piece.

You know I think allow mutually agreed with a 15/20% uplift on equivalent contract salary.

This will benefit zero hours minimum wage earners, but not anyone paid over min wage as employers will just navigate wages downwards to compensate

That would be great if the employer could still keep me on as it is now. Make my life much easier - I wonder what the time line is for all this?

i don’t want to work for the agency as they could send me to any number of different places, I’d have no say in where I worked & if I’m not available I’d not get work etc - I work alongside people that work for the agency so have learnt how they are treated.

I don’t want to set up an agency myself but would as an option to continue working where I do. I already complete self assessment yearly so am used to that side of things.

You don't need to set up an agency. You need to registered as self-employed and you are free to pick up whatever contracts suit you. There is no law to say only agency workers can be employed for housekeeping jobs. Any self-employed freelancer/contractor can. If you already do your own self-assessment, I assume you are already registered as a sole trader. You don't need to make any changes except to work out your extras for holiday pay.

@Catza.

thanks

looking further into this Labour have said they will put the new employment laws through in 100 days, so at least for now I won't have to do anything.

For many people I think its very important to have rights and security within employment

Will be interesting to what happens in the future.
Before they bring in legislation, I hope they realise that zero hours contracts are not always bad and some people actually like being on them.

We both took early retirement a couple of years ago (57 & 54) but with OH being younger than me, decided to take a little job.
He took a zero hours roll and could not be happier, they offer work a week in advance and he decides if he wants to do it or not (happy with 30-40hrs/month).
Happy with his work, they repeatedly offer him a PT contract but the flexibility of the ZHC means he always turns it down.

As I say, it's not even certain this will happen
Its very hard to find anything other than some manifesto points from May, they haven't mentioned this since

It would require plenty of discussion and consideration and time for businesses to look at their staffing and how to then work

It could, in fact, result in a large number of people LOSING work

It could, in fact, result in a large number of people LOSING work

there aren't enough employees as it is, so doubtful this this would mean many people losing work - but there needs to be a loop hole for those that want to work flexibly

TBH I'd be happy with a contract that states I'm guaranteed 20 hours per quarter annually

The problem isn’t with having guaranteed hours, this means you will be paid whether or not the works available. The problem is with the employee then being obligated to work that number of hours, and the financial impact on employers who may not choose to reduce hourly wages or not employ people.

If businesses employ 20 zero hours staff so that staff can work the hours they want and there will always be staff to cover and they are then forced to give all employees X amount of hours do you think they will:
A) Pay 20 people to come in for 12 hours every week, even if it means essentially making up work
B) Pay 10 people for 12 hours a week so there is work for them
Which do you think they will chose?

And how will the employees feel, suddenly losing the flexibility? Remember the advantage for the employee of Zero hours is that they too can turn around and refuse work without consequences

And how will the employees feel, suddenly losing the flexibility? Remember the advantage for the employee of Zero hours is that they too can turn around and refuse work without consequences For many on zero hours, and indeed for those on a fixed hours contract where the hours are considerably less than the worked hours at busy times, there is a consequence of refusing hours - you are not offered hours in the future. Even if this is not company policy, which local manager, needing an extra person for a shift, is going to start by ringing those people who have refused work in the past?

I've been saying this for ages.

A few employers give zero hours contracts a bad name. Don't need to use a sledgehammer to crack that small nut though. There are so many people that benefit from having zero hour contracts.

It’s a big issue if they force this issue. I started at my employer in a zero hour contract a number of years ago. I was offered the opportunity to move to contracted on numerous occasions and chose not to as the flexibility was what I needed. It’s only the last few years I chose to move over with my child being older.

There are a lot of people who rely on the flexibility of these roles.

My understanding is that that you can opt to continue zero hours if it suits you. So not an outright abolish.