Can anyone give me some help with zero hours contract?

[Ouchmyheadhurts]

Iv been offered a job part time but it’s zero hour contract. Iv only ever been employed. So I know my wage will never be the same each month but can someone tell me the pros and cons of zero hours? Mainly about sick pay and holidays? What I’m entitled to...anything I should be wary of?

Anyone?

Little bump

Pro - you can turn down work (although it's unlikely you'll get any more if you do).

Con - they're not obliged to give you any hours, and can change your shifts (or withdraw them altogether) with no notice.

You should get paid holiday but how much you'll get will depend on how many hours you work. It's usually 12% of your hours I think (assuming you're in the UK).

The sick pay rules are more complicated, it depends on how much you've worked between certain periods of time, how much you've earnt, how long you're off etc. It'd be easy to answer this with a specific scenario.
(This is the case for all contracts without contractual sick pay not just zero hours)

Hope this is helpful!

@NoBaggyPants has it pretty spot on for pros and cons.

I worked zero hours as a student and it was helpful then because I could up my hours in the holidays and do none during exam time.

But it's rare for people to need this level of flexibility and it does mean you might have no hours at all. It also obviously makes it very difficult to budget and could leave you with no money at all.

Oh god what have I done then?

It was advertised as 15 hours, it’s a small business owned by husband and wife and they have some presumably self employed builders who work for them. They said 15 hours is starting.... I said those hours for now suit me, they said great. There isn’t anyone else that will be doing the job that I am.... it isn’t shifts, they give the work, I do it when I can/want to during the day?

Don't panic, it could be fine and you could have 15 hours every week.

It's just a risk that you could have none, so it's something to be aware of.

This might help: www.gov.uk/government/publications/zero-hours-contracts-guidance-for-employers/zero-hours-contracts-guidance-for-employers

It shouldn't really have been advertised as 15 hours though, it should have been clear it was zero hours and they expect it to be 15 hours

I had a feeling it would be self employed. The advert said starting 15 hours.... in the interview they said option of self employed (wage would be slightly higher per hour) or zero hour contact. I chose zero hour as I don’t want to be self employed.

The boss is seeing me this week for training. I presume you still get a contract they and I both sign as a normal employed person? Also they shut the business for 2 weeks over Xmas, would I not get paid for those?

Thanks for the link.

How do I know what holiday entitlement I would get? If it’s zero hours... how do you know what you would be entitled to?

You would only get a holiday allowance pro rata based on time worked, unless the contract is more generous. You need to clarify bank holidays as some would fall within Christmas shutdown. If they are dictating when you work, hours etc you cannot be SE.

You accrue holiday pay based on the number of hours you work, there are some online calculators that can help you do this.

Ok thanks. So I should expect an actual contact like you get when employed? It will just say it’s a zero hours contact?