Working Hours
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2026 to Question 9197, and with reference to his Department's publication entitled Employment Rights Act 2025: economic analysis and enactment summary impact assessment, published 7 January 2026, for what policy reason the hours threshold for the right to guaranteed hours is chosen to be between 8 and 20 hours per week.
Answered by Kate Dearden
The government’s preference is for the hours threshold for the right to guaranteed hours to be between 8 and 20 hours per week, on the basis that options in this range are more likely to provide a favourable balance of costs and benefits. A baseline of 8 hours per week mitigates against potential avoidance behaviour of employers moving zero hours workers to contracts with a very low number of hours.
The consultation includes evidence from the Living Wage Foundation which shows that the percentage of workers working above contracted hours decreases with the number of contracted hours, with only around 19% of those with between 16-24 hours guaranteed working more hours than contracted.
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