It has been confirmed that the Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023 will not be brought into force this autumn, as originally expected. The Act received Royal Assent in September 2023 and ACAS published a draft Code of Practice to handle requests. But this is now shelved.
However, the idea itself is likely to live on. A spokesperson for the Department of Business and Trade said: “We will introduce a new right to a contract that reflects the number of hours regularly worked as part of our significant and ambitious agenda to ensure workplace rights are fit for a modern economy, empower working people and deliver economic growth.”
This statement is in-line with the briefing note which accompanied the King’s Speech which said, “banning exploitative zero-hours contracts” was linked to “ensuring workers have a right to a contract that reflects the number of hours they regularly work”.
Rather than muddy the waters with two separate legal mechanisms for requesting predictability, the Government has decided to ignore the one it inherited and move forward with new legislation, which may well form part of its forthcoming Employment Rights Bill.
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