Employment Rights Bill Unpacked: Shifting The Power For Shift Workers

The Employment Rights Bill aims to increase stability and predictability for shift workers by introducing a right to reasonable notice of shifts and a payment for cancelled or changed shifts.

A focus of Labour's manifesto before the election was about ending "one-sided flexibility". They pledged a commitment to "securonomics" – aiming to give people security in their day-to-day working lives. A large part of their plans to achieve this was by banning exploitative zero hours contracts.

Although Labour have rowed back from an outright ban, the Bill will give workers the rights to be offered guaranteed hours. We have explored this in detail here. Alongside these changes, the Bill also introduces new rights to notice of shifts and payment when a shift is cancelled or changed at short notice. This will further bolster the protection of low paid workers with unpredictable working patterns.