Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the prevalence of short-notice shift cancellation in the (a) retail and (b) hospitality sectors whereby employees arrive at work and are told they are not needed or are sent home before the end of their shift.

The Government remains committed to ensuring that flexibility is genuinely a mutually beneficial arrangement between employer and worker. We recognise the real issues that “one-sided flexibility”, which includes practices such as short-notice shift cancellations, can cause for working people and their families.

In the Government’s response to the Review of Modern Working Practices (published February 2018), we asked the Low Pay Commission to assess the nature and extent of “one-sided flexibility”.

This assessment will form part of the Low Pay Commission’s October 2018 report and the Government will take a decision on next steps following receipt of their recommendations.