Predictable hours


The Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023 (WPTCA), which was due to come into force in September 2024, was scrapped by the Labour government in favour of its own reforms. 


The Act would have given workers on insecure contracts the right to request a more predictable working pattern along the lines of the right to request flexible working. Provided they had a minimum qualifying period of service, workers would have been able to ask for a change in terms and conditions of employment if there was “a lack of predictability” as regards any part of their work pattern. As with flexible working requests, the employer was not obliged to agree to the request but would only have been able to refuse on specified grounds.


Labour’s alternative approach to addressing insecure work has focused on workers on zero or minimum hours contracts who regularly work more than their contracted hours. The Employment Rights Bill includes provisions requiring employers to provide a guaranteed hours contract to workers in those circumstances — see below under “Zero hours contract workers”.