Section 27BP: Right to payment for a cancelled, moved or curtailed shift, Employment Rights Act 1996

An employer must make a payment of a specified amount to a worker each time that the employer cancels, moves or curtails at short notice a qualifying shift—

that the employer has informed the worker they are required to work,

that the employer has requested the worker to work and the worker has agreed to work, or

that the worker has suggested working and the employer has agreed to the worker working,

(but see section 27BR for exceptions to this duty).

A shift is a "qualifying shift", in relation to a worker and an employer, if it would be (or would have been) worked, or is being worked, by the worker for the employer under—

a zero hours contract,

a worker's contract entered into in accordance with a zero hours arrangement, or

a worker's contract of a specified description that requires the employer to make some work available to the worker but does not provide on what days and at what times, or in accordance with what pattern of days and times, that work is to be done by the worker.

A shift is also a "qualifying shift", in relation to a worker and an employer, if—

it would be (or would have been) worked, or is being worked, by the worker for the employer under a worker's contract of a specified description that requires the employer to make some work available to the worker,

the contract provides on what days and at what times, or in accordance with what pattern of days and times, that work, or some of that work, is to be done by the worker, and

no part of the shift corresponds to the time of a shift provided for by the contract as described in paragraph (b).

Where—

the conditions in subsection (3)(a) and (b) are met in relation to a shift,

all or part of the shift corresponds to the time of a shift (a "guaranteed shift") provided for by the contract as described in subsection (3)(b),

the employer requests or requires, or the worker suggests, that the worker starts earlier, or ends later, than is provided for by the contract (as described in subsection (3)(b)) in relation to the guaranteed shift, and

the earlier start or later end is to result in an additional number of hours being worked above the number of hours to be worked in the guaranteed shift,

the additional hours are to be treated for the purposes of this Chapter as a separate shift (and accordingly as a "qualifying shift").

A payment that an employer is required to make under subsection (1) must be made by no later than the specified day.

For the purposes of this Chapter, "short notice" means—

in relation to the cancellation of a shift, notice given less than a specified amount of time before the shift would have started (if the shift had not been cancelled);

in relation to the movement of a shift, or the movement and curtailment (at the same time) of a shift, notice given—

less than a specified amount of time before the earlier of when the shift would have started (if the shift had not been moved, or moved and curtailed) and when the shift is due to start (having been moved, or moved and curtailed);

on or after the start of the shift;

in relation to the curtailment of a shift where there is a change to when the shift is to start (but there is no movement of the shift), notice given less than a specified amount of time before the earlier of—

when the shift would have started (if there had not been the change), and

when the shift is due to start (the change having been made);

in relation to the curtailment of a shift where there is no change to when the shift is to start, notice given—

less than a specified amount of time before the shift is due to start;

on or after the start of the shift.

The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision about when notice of the cancellation, movement or curtailment of a shift is to be treated as having been given by an employer to a worker.

For the purposes of this Chapter—

"employer", in relation to an individual and a shift, includes a person by whom the individual would be (or would have been) employed if the individual worked the shift;
"worker", in relation to a shift, includes an individual who would be (or would have been) a worker if the individual worked the shift.

For the purposes of this Chapter, references to the movement of a shift (however expressed)—

are to any change to the time at which the shift is to start that is a change of more than a specified amount of time;

include—

where a shift is in two or more parts, a change of more than a specified amount of time to the time at which the second (or a subsequent) part is to start, and

a division of a shift into two or more parts where the time between the parts is more than a specified amount of time,

but only if the change or division (as the case may be) results in the shift ending later.

In this Chapter, references to a request to work a shift made by an employer to a worker include a request (a "multi-worker request") made by the employer to the worker and one or more others in circumstances where the employer does not need the shift to be worked by all of those to whom the request is made.

For the purposes of this Chapter, where an employer has made a multi-worker request to a worker in relation to a shift, references to the cancellation of the shift (however expressed) include the worker not being needed to work the shift because one or more others have agreed to work it.

Section 27BP: Right to payment for a cancelled, moved or curtailed shift

Discussed in

About this text