Guaranteed Hours: What the 2027 Zero-Hours Reform Means for Hospitality Rotas

The Employment Rights Act 2025 includes a right for zero-hours and low-hours workers to request a guaranteed-hours contract once they have established a consistent working pattern. This is probably the most significant change to flexible working law in a generation for hospitality employers who rely on zero-hours arrangements to manage variable demand.

The reform does not ban zero-hours contracts. It gives qualifying workers the right to have their actual working pattern recognised in their contract. For an employer whose "zero-hours" worker has been doing the same twenty hours a week for eighteen months, this right puts that reality on a legal footing.

What is known about the reform

The Employment Rights Act 2025 establishes the right at a high level. What is known:

The direction of the right. A worker who has established a regular and recurring pattern of hours over a qualifying reference period will be entitled to request a contract reflecting those hours. The employer must consider the request genuinely and may refuse on specific grounds.

The process. The employer must respond to a request within a specified period. If the employer refuses, they must give reasons. The worker will have the right to bring a tribunal claim if the employer fails to follow the process, refuses without a valid reason, or subjects the worker to a detriment for making a request.

The grounds for refusal. The Act identifies grounds on which an employer can refuse, including genuine variation in demand that makes guaranteed hours unworkable. The precise formulation of these grounds, and how they will be assessed by tribunals, will become clearer when secondary legislation and ACAS guidance are published.

What is not yet known. The length of the qualifying reference period. The precise definition of a "regular pattern." The procedural requirements for making and responding to a request. The remedy if an employer refuses unlawfully.

What it means for hospitality rotas

The impact on hospitality depends on how your zero-hours and casual arrangements actually operate in practice.

High-variation businesses. A seasonal venue where demand genuinely varies by a factor of five between peak and off-peak periods, and where different workers are needed in different seasons, is likely to be in a stronger position to argue that guaranteed hours are not workable for a substantial proportion of the workforce. The grounds for refusal appear to include this kind of genuine business variability.

Low-variation businesses with flexible contracts. A pub or restaurant that uses zero-hours contracts but whose core staff work predictable patterns week after week is in a more exposed position. If the reality is that a worker has been doing Tuesday and Thursday evenings for two years, the fact that the contract says zero hours becomes harder to defend. These workers are the most likely to qualify for a guaranteed-hours arrangement and the most likely to request one.

Seasonal and event-only staff. Workers who are genuinely only engaged for specific periods or events, and who do not have a consistent pattern over the qualifying reference period, are less likely to qualify. A worker who does three Christmas parties and nothing else is not establishing a regular pattern.

The distinction between employment and worker status. The guaranteed hours right is expected to apply to workers as well as employees. In hospitality, where a significant proportion of flexible staff are engaged as workers rather than employees, this broadens the scope considerably.

Who is likely to qualify in a hospitality setting

The workers most likely to qualify once the right takes effect are those who:

Work a regular number of hours per week, even if those hours are spread across varying shifts. Work consistently for the same employer over an extended period. Have their availability managed through a standing rota rather than genuinely ad hoc offers. Are offered first pick of available shifts on a consistent basis that results in a predictable pattern.

The workers least likely to qualify are those who genuinely work variable hours, those who are engaged for specific events or seasons only, and those who regularly work for multiple employers and whose hours with any one employer are genuinely unpredictable.

What to do now, before the reform takes effect

Start tracking hours immediately. The single most important preparatory step is to record every shift worked by every zero-hours and casual worker. The date, start time, end time and hours worked for every shift, every week. Without this data, you cannot assess which workers have established a consistent pattern, cannot respond to a request based on accurate records, and cannot defend a claim if a request is refused.

Identify workers with consistent patterns. Review your existing rota and time records. If you have zero-hours workers who have been working the same pattern week after week for an extended period, make a note of them now. Consider whether it would be appropriate to offer them a guaranteed-hours arrangement proactively, rather than waiting for a formal request once the right is in force.

Review your rota management approach. If your zero-hours arrangements are being used to give workers near-guaranteed hours without the legal status, the reform is an opportunity to align your formal position with reality. Continuing to operate workers on paper zero-hours arrangements while their actual work pattern is predictable and consistent creates risk once the reform takes effect.

Monitor secondary legislation and ACAS guidance. The qualifying conditions and procedural requirements will only be clear once the secondary legislation is published. Set up a process for receiving updates, whether through ACAS, gov.uk or a professional body.

Audit your zero-hours contracts for exclusivity clauses. The January 2026 exclusivity clause ban should already have prompted a contract review. If it has not, now is the time. A contract that still contains an unlawful exclusivity clause and will also need updating for the guaranteed-hours reform requires a single comprehensive review rather than two separate exercises.

Related guides

• →Employment contracts and written particulars for hospitality employers: the complete guide
• →Zero-hours contract rules UK 2026
• →Zero-hours contracts in hospitality: the exclusivity clause ban explained
• →Contracts for casual and bank staff in hospitality
• →Employment Rights Act 2025 explained for small businesses