Disappointment over government’s zero-hours contract plans

The news that agency workers will be included in the government’s zero-hour contract reforms has been met with disappointment.

Concerns were raised during the consultation process in December 2024 – the government was urged to exclude agency workers from the reforms as there were fears this could have a detrimental effect on accessing critical temporary resources. You can read more about this here.

Now, following the news that the government still plans to go ahead with this, the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) has called the move disappointing and potentially damaging for skills short remits.

Tania Bowers, Global Public Policy Director at APSCo, explained, “The announcement is both concerning and highly disappointing given the Government’s recognition that skill short remits such as education, health and social care are in dire need of more qualified and temporary resources.

“This news means that highly skilled and highly paid agency workers that are often required at the last minute will be more difficult to place in temporary positions.

“Schools, for example, cannot guarantee the hours that a supply teacher will be needed, which puts them in a difficult situation where they risk simply not having access to the people they need last minute. The same can be said in health and social care. This will have a detrimental impact on the public who rely on these resources.”

Tania added, “Highly skilled professional contractors are critical to the Government growth plans set out in the Industrial Strategy across technology, engineering, life sciences and net zero targets.

“The extension of the zero-hours legislation across the whole temporary workforce is over regulation, primarily to close off loopholes that could be exploited rather than the actual risk of exploitation in the professional sector. Other solutions must be found to the loophole risk to ensure that critical segments of the highly skilled flexible workforce can be excluded to avoid dampening impacts on flexible labour and growth.

“This move will put greater pressure on staffing firms to be the guarantor of workers’ hours which simply isn’t feasible and puts them in a difficult financial position should they be unable to secure the hours agreed.

“A catch-all method to employment regulation doesn’t set the UK up for success in terms of skills growth and is an unfair approach for the recruitment supply chain. The agency worker sector is already well-regulated and will be in an even better position with the introduction of the Fair Work Agency in the legislation. APSCo maintains its view that the Agency Worker Regulations 2010 (AWR) and zero-hour reforms need to exclude highly paid contractors earning multiples of the National Living Wage.”

To find out more about contracting please contact Zeeshan on 01206 591 000 or email zeeshan.anwar@contractorumbrella.com.