See how approved work reaches payroll in Workmax. Request a Workflow Demo

Free consultation scenario tool

Zero-Hours Contract Changes: 12-Week Guaranteed-Hours Planner

Enter a working pattern week by week to compare the 12-week consultation options with longer illustrative periods. No names, uploads or registration.

Model a working pattern

✓ Illustrative consultation scenarios✓ 12–52 chronological weeks✓ Processed in your browser—nothing is uploaded

Browser-only planner

Enter a chronological working pattern

Start with 12 weeks, oldest first. Add more weeks when you want a longer comparison.

Worker context

Directly engagedAgency worker

Direct engagement selected. The figures model the employer and worker relationship directly.

Example: if the contract says 0 hours and 8 hours were worked, enter 0 and 8.

Week	Contracted hours	Hours worked
1	Week 1 contracted hours	Week 1 hours worked
2	Week 2 contracted hours	Week 2 hours worked
3	Week 3 contracted hours	Week 3 hours worked
4	Week 4 contracted hours	Week 4 hours worked
5	Week 5 contracted hours	Week 5 hours worked
6	Week 6 contracted hours	Week 6 hours worked
7	Week 7 contracted hours	Week 7 hours worked
8	Week 8 contracted hours	Week 8 hours worked
9	Week 9 contracted hours	Week 9 hours worked
10	Week 10 contracted hours	Week 10 hours worked
11	Week 11 contracted hours	Week 11 hours worked
12	Week 12 contracted hours	Week 12 hours worked
Totals	0h	0h

No names, files or account details. Nothing is uploaded.

Illustrative, not operative law

Your comparisons will appear here

Enter at least 12 complete weeks. Results are processed in your browser—nothing is uploaded.

What this planner models

Three parts of a proposed working-pattern test

The planner translates consultation options into comparisons. It does not predict the final regulations.

Reference-period length: Compare the first 12 weeks, then the first 26 or 52 weeks when enough data is available.
Regularity thresholds: See whether work occurred often enough to meet the 6-, 8-, 10- or 12-week illustrations.
Excess-hours tests: Compare weekly hours above the contract with illustrative 48-, 72- and 96-hour thresholds.

The legal position

Enacted framework, undecided detail

The Act establishes the direction of travel. Regulations still need to turn that framework into operative rules.

What has been enacted and what remains undecided
Position	What it covers
Enacted in the Employment Rights Act 2025	A future guaranteed-hours framework, reasonable shift notice and payments for qualifying short-notice changes.
Still to be set by regulations	Commencement date, operative reference periods, thresholds, calculation and rounding rules, exceptions and agency-worker allocation.
Expected timing	Implementation is expected during 2027, with the exact date pending.

How an offer may work

The worker context matters

Directly engaged workers

The future framework is intended to connect a regular working pattern with an offer reflecting hours worked during the operative reference period.

Agency workers

The consultation asks how responsibilities should be divided between an agency and hirer. The final allocation is not yet settled.

Subsequent reference periods

The consultation also considers how later working patterns could trigger another assessment after an offer or change.

Outside this calculation

What the planner does not calculate

Final legal eligibility or entitlement
The guaranteed hours an employer may ultimately need to offer
Shift-notice or cancellation compensation
Regulatory exceptions or temporary-work exclusions

Useful preparation

Record the facts behind each pattern

A clear history will be more useful than trying to predict regulations that have not yet been made.

Contractual hours
Actual weekly hours
Weeks with no work
Shift publication dates
Changes and cancellations
Reasons for temporary or seasonal arrangements

Worked patterns

Examples worth comparing

Use fictional or anonymised weekly figures. The planner does not need a worker’s name.

Genuine zero-hours pattern

Contracted hours remain at zero while worked hours vary from week to week.

Low-hours worker regularly working more

A small contractual baseline is repeatedly exceeded across the reference period.

Seasonal spike

A busy 12-week period looks materially different from the available 26- or 52-week mean.

Agency-worker pattern

The same hours comparison is shown with agency-specific context about who may carry future duties.

Planner questions

Before you rely on an illustration

What the illustrations can and cannot show while the operative regulations remain pending.

Does a result show that a worker is entitled to guaranteed hours?

Why are zero-work weeks included?

Why can mean and median differ?

Does the planner calculate cancelled-shift payments?

Payroll

Workforce

Care providers

Operational routes

Learn

Tools

Support