Zero-hours contracts

A zero-hours contract means your employer does not guarantee you any hours and you do not have to accept the hours offered. You still have core legal rights: at least the National Living Wage (£12.71 an hour from 1 April 2026 if you are 21 or over), paid holiday, Statutory Sick Pay from the first day of sickness, rest breaks and protection from discrimination. Exclusivity clauses that stop you working for someone else have been unenforceable since 2015. Bigger changes, including a right to guaranteed hours, are planned under the Employment Rights Act 2025 but have no start date yet.

Where you meet zero-hours work in the public sector

In public services the arrangement is often called casual, sessional, relief or bank work. Examples include:

• exam invigilators and some cover and lunchtime staff in schools
• NHS staff bank workers (who may have a permanent job too)
• relief care workers and sessional youth workers employed by councils
• casual leisure centre and library staff

Some of these contracts are worker contracts and some make you an employee. The difference matters for some rights, including redundancy pay and unfair dismissal. Your written statement should say which you are. If in doubt, look at how the arrangement works in practice. The NHS bank work guide covers the most common public sector version.

Pay

You must be paid at least the minimum wage for every hour you work, including time spent on training your employer requires, and travel between appointments if you are a home care worker. From 1 April 2026 the rates are £12.71 for those aged 21 and over, £10.85 for 18 to 20 year olds, and £8.00 for under-18s and for apprentices who are under 19 or in the first year of their apprenticeship.

Many public sector casual roles pay more than this because they use a national pay scale. NHS bank shifts normally follow Agenda for Change rates for the band, and council casual roles usually sit on the NJC pay spine. When your pay varies with time worked, your payslip must show the hours you were paid for.

Holiday

You build up holiday as you work. For irregular-hours and part-year workers with leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, holiday accrues at 12.07% of the hours worked in each pay period. Employers are allowed to pay these workers “rolled-up” holiday pay: an extra 12.07% added to each payment instead of paying you when you take the time off.

If your employer rolls up holiday pay, it should appear as a separate line on your payslip. You still need to take time off, and the rolled-up pay is what you live on while you do. The holiday entitlement guide explains the calculation for other patterns.

Sick pay

Since 6 April 2026, Statutory Sick Pay is paid from the first day of sickness, and the Lower Earnings Limit test has been removed. It is £123.25 a week or 80% of your average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. You need to be an employee, have done some work, and be ill for at least one full working day.

Whether you count as an employee for SSP depends on your contract, and many zero-hours workers do. The Statutory Sick Pay guide has the detail.

Other rights you have now

• a written statement of your terms on or before your first day
• an itemised payslip
• rest breaks and limits on working time
• protection from discrimination and from detriment for whistleblowing
• the right to be accompanied at disciplinary and grievance hearings
• auto-enrolment into a workplace pension if you earn over £10,000 a year with that employer

You can work for other employers at the same time. Any clause in your contract that says otherwise cannot be enforced.

What the Employment Rights Act 2025 will change

The Act sets up new rights for zero-hours and low-hours workers. In outline they are:

• a right to be offered guaranteed hours that reflect the hours you regularly work over a reference period
• reasonable notice of shifts
• payment if a shift is cancelled or cut short at short notice

The government’s timeline lists guaranteed hours and shift notice and cancellation pay for 2027 and says the timing will be updated after consultation. No start date has been set, and the reference period, notice periods and payment rates will be in regulations not yet made. None of these new rights apply until those regulations are in force. Agency workers will be brought into the rules too.

The Employment Rights Act 2025 guide is updated when dates are confirmed.

If something goes wrong

Keep your own record of shifts offered, accepted and worked, and of any cancellations. If you are underpaid, you can complain to your employer, raise a grievance, report non-payment of the minimum wage to HMRC through the gov.uk page, or bring a tribunal claim after ACAS early conciliation. The tribunal time limit for most claims is six months since 1 October 2026. Unions organise casual and bank staff in schools, councils and the NHS, and a rep can help you raise problems with hours or pay.