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Small Businesses: Working Hours

Asked by Blake StephensonConservativeDepartment for Business and TradeTabled Answered 16 March 2026UIN 119567

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of guaranteed hours requirements on small and medium-sized enterprises operating in sectors reliant on temporary labour.

Answered by Kate Dearden

The government has published a comprehensive assessment of the potential impacts of the zero hours contract measures in the Employment Rights Act 2025.

This analysis includes consideration of increases in labour costs and effects on flexibility for micro, small and medium-sized businesses, and identifies the sectors most likely to be affected by the measures.

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