Zero-Hours Contracts in Hospitality: The Exclusivity Clause Ban Explained
Exclusivity clauses in zero-hours contracts have been progressively banned since 2015, with the final extension taking effect in January 2026. If your hospitality contracts still restrict workers from taking other shifts, you are using unlawful terms.
Leon Mclean
Co-founder, Birchlow · Last reviewed July 2026
Zero-hours contracts are not banned. The exclusivity clause ban is frequently misreported as a ban on zero-hours contracts themselves. It is not. You can still engage workers on zero-hours arrangements. What you cannot do is prevent those workers from taking work elsewhere while they wait for you to offer them shifts.
Zero-hours contracts are a practical necessity for much of the hospitality sector. Demand on a Saturday night in December is not the same as demand on a Tuesday in January. The ability to offer shifts as they become available, without committing to a fixed weekly hours guarantee, is a genuine operational requirement for many restaurants, pubs and hotels.
The law has never sought to ban this flexibility. What it has progressively restricted is the use of exclusivity clauses: terms that kept workers locked to a single employer on zero guaranteed hours, unable to fill gaps in their income by working elsewhere.
How the ban developed: 2015 to 2026
May 2015: the original ban. The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 made exclusivity clauses in zero-hours contracts unenforceable. A worker on a zero-hours contract could not be prevented from working for another employer. However, the ban applied specifically to contracts labelled or structured as zero-hours contracts. It did not cover arrangements that operated in the same way but were documented differently, or not documented at all.
December 2022: extension to low-pay workers. The Exclusivity Terms for Zero Hours Workers (Unenforceability and Redress) Regulations 2022 extended the ban to workers on contracts where no guaranteed hours were provided and where pay did not exceed the Lower Earnings Limit. This widened the scope beyond formally labelled zero-hours contracts and added redress rights, meaning workers could bring tribunal claims where an exclusivity clause was applied against them, and could not be dismissed or subjected to a detriment for working elsewhere.
January 2026: full extension. The Employment Rights Act 2025 completed the progression. From January 2026, any clause that prevents a worker from taking other work is unenforceable in any arrangement where no minimum hours are guaranteed. The pay threshold from the 2022 regulations was removed. The ban now applies regardless of how the arrangement is documented or described.
What the January 2026 change did
The January 2026 change closed the remaining gaps in the exclusivity ban.
Before January 2026, it was possible to argue that a casual arrangement not described as a "zero hours contract" fell outside the earlier ban. It was also possible to argue that higher-paid zero-hours arrangements fell outside the scope of the 2022 regulations.
Both of those arguments are gone. From January 2026, if a worker has no guaranteed minimum hours, any clause restricting them from working elsewhere is unenforceable. This covers:
- →Contracts formally described as zero-hours contracts
- →Casual bank arrangements where workers are called as needed with no minimum commitment
- →Event staff arrangements offering no guaranteed shifts across a season
- →Any other arrangement where no minimum hours are committed to on either side
The Fair Work Agency, which launched in April 2026, has direct enforcement powers. It can receive complaints from workers, investigate employers, and require corrective action. Workers can also bring tribunal claims for unlawful detriment if they face any disadvantage for working elsewhere.
What this means for a hospitality rota
In a practical hospitality setting, the impact is straightforward: you cannot require a member of your casual or zero-hours waiting staff to be available to you and only to you. If you text a worker on Friday afternoon to see if they can come in on Saturday, and they tell you they are already working elsewhere, that is their right. You cannot discipline them for it, and your contract cannot require them to have asked your permission first.
What you can do is manage your rota and availability system in a way that reflects this reality.
You can ask workers to indicate their availability in advance, so you know who is likely to be free for a given shift. You cannot require them to declare that they have no other employment or to get your approval before accepting other work.
You can build a bank of casual workers large enough that you are not dependent on any single individual being available. This is good practice regardless of the legal position.
You cannot offer preferential access to shifts as a reward for exclusivity. Telling workers that those who "commit" to you will get first pick of shifts is applying exclusivity by a different name.
You cannot include a clause requiring workers to notify you of any other employment, if the purpose or practical effect of that notification requirement is to deter them from taking other work.
What to do with your contracts now
If you have not reviewed your zero-hours contracts and casual worker arrangements since before January 2026, the following steps are necessary.
Identify every arrangement where no minimum hours are guaranteed. This includes formally labelled zero-hours contracts, casual bank arrangements, event staff arrangements and any other flexible engagement with no guaranteed minimum.
Remove any clause that restricts other work. Look for phrases such as "you must not work for any other employer without our written consent," "you agree to make yourself available exclusively," or "you must notify us before accepting work elsewhere." Any of these is a clause that must be removed.
Replace unlawful clauses with appropriate availability language. You can ask workers to indicate availability, to give reasonable notice of dates they are unavailable, and to confirm shift acceptance within a reasonable period. These are operational requirements, not exclusivity clauses.
Issue updated agreements to current workers. Once you have revised the contract, provide the updated version to every worker currently on a zero-hours or casual arrangement. Keep a record of when you sent it.
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