Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, has this morning announced that the Government are to ban exclusivity clauses in Zero-Hour Contracts.
But what does this mean?
For many people who work under a Zero Hour contract, it is often a contractual term that they are unable to work for any other person. In theory, it is not difficult to understand why, however, the practicalities of this are not as straight forward. Zero Hour contracts have come under fire for many reasons, one such example is that they do not guarantee work, therefore, many working under zero hour contracts may find that they have time available to work elsewhere, but their contracts restrict this. It is this restriction that the Government is banning. Therefore, employer’s will be unable to tell those working under a Zero Hour contract that they cannot work elsewhere.
The Government are due to consult on how to prevent employer’s circumventing the regulations, for example, by offering a one hour contract, rather than a Zero.
Mark Hirst: mhirst@bromleys.co.uk
Nicholas Clough: nclough@bromleys.co.uk
Rachael Frankland: rfankland@bromleys.co.uk