Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to his Department’s consultation document entitled Make Work Pay: ending one-sided flexibility – reforms of zero hours and similar contracts, published on 2 June 2026, what his Department's definition is of an adequate baseline level of security and predictability in relation to the hours threshold.

The government has published a comprehensive assessment of the potential impacts from the zero hours contract measures in the Employment Rights Act 2025 and will publish further analysis in due course.

The government’s preference for the hours threshold for the right to guaranteed hours is between 8 and 20 hours per week. A baseline of 8 hours per week mitigates against potential avoidance behaviour of employers while options up to 20 hours per week would be more likely to ensure that workers experiencing one-sided flexibility benefited from the right, while balancing the need to be proportionate in the costs to employers and the potential for unintended impacts.