zero-hours-notice-pay

---
name: zero-hours-notice-pay
description: Checks a zero-hours or casual arrangement against the rules that are already live law, the exclusivity ban and minimum wage, and separately tracks the new reasonable-notice and cancellation-payment rights the Employment Rights Act 2025 creates, which are not yet in force and have no confirmed start date. It keeps the two states clearly apart, because treating a future right as if it already applies is as wrong as missing the ban that has applied since 2015. Use whenever you draft or review a zero-hours contract, or when the 2025 Act's new rights move closer to commencement and you need to know whether that day has arrived.
---

# What is already the law, and what is not yet, for your zero-hours staff

You give this the zero-hours contract or arrangement in question. You get back a check against the current exclusivity ban and minimum wage obligation, and a separate, clearly dated note on the reasonable-notice and cancellation-pay rights that are coming but have not commenced.

## What it does

1. **Check the exclusivity clause against a ban that has applied since 2015.** Section 27A of the Employment Rights Act 1996 defines a zero hours contract as one where "the undertaking to do or perform work or services is an undertaking to do so conditionally on the employer making work or services available to the worker" and "there is no certainty that any such work or services will be made available to the worker." Section 27A(3) then makes unenforceable "any provision of a zero hours contract which prohibits the worker from doing work or performing services under another contract or under any other arrangement" or requires the employer's consent to do so. GOV.UK puts it plainly: "You cannot do anything to stop a zero-hours worker from getting work elsewhere." A clause in the contract that says otherwise is not illegal to have written down, it is simply unenforceable against the worker, and the worker can ignore it.
2. **Pay the minimum wage for every hour actually worked, exactly as for anyone else.** GOV.UK confirms zero-hours workers are entitled to "the National Minimum Wage in the same way as regular workers." There is no reduced or casual rate; the wage rules do not vary by contract type, only by age band and apprentice status.
3. **State clearly that the reasonable-notice right is not yet law.** The Employment Rights Act 2025 is expected to create a right to reasonable notice of a shift and a right to payment where a shift is cancelled, moved, or cut short at short notice, but the Act's own zero-hours provisions depend on regulations still being consulted on, with 2027 the figure in current commentary rather than a confirmed commencement date. Nothing in this skill assumes those rights are live, and any contract review carried out before commencement should say so in writing rather than implying a right that cannot yet be enforced.
4. **Record the date this was checked, because the position can change without warning.** The gap between an Act receiving Royal Assent and its substantive provisions commencing can run for years, and this one depends on a consultation whose outcome will set the detail, including which "low hours" threshold brings a worker into scope at all. A contract review that does not record its own check date cannot be relied on six months later.
5. **Flag any contract clause that already assumes the future right exists.** A template that promises "reasonable notice of shifts will be given" as a contractual term is not wrong to include, but if it is presented to the worker as a legal entitlement they can already enforce through a tribunal, that overstates the current position and should be corrected to describe it as the business's own policy until the statutory right commences.

## Then it checks

1. Any exclusivity wording in the contract is identified and marked unenforceable, with the section 27A(3) reference given.
2. The contract and actual pay records confirm minimum wage is paid for all hours worked, at the correct current age-band rate.
3. No part of the review states or implies that a statutory right to reasonable notice or cancellation payment currently exists.
4. The date of this check is recorded, so the review can be re-run once commencement is confirmed.
5. Any contract clause referring to notice or cancellation payment is checked against whether it is described as a business policy or, wrongly, as an already-enforceable legal right.

Any check fails: name it, redo that step once. Failed twice: say what is wrong and stop.

## Rules
- Public information only.
- Never invent a fact, a number or a quote.
- Anything sent in someone's name says whose name it is.
- Never state that the Employment Rights Act 2025's reasonable-notice or cancellation-pay rights are currently enforceable; as at the date of this check they are not in force and have no confirmed commencement date.
- Never remove or rewrite an exclusivity clause in a contract document; flag it as unenforceable and leave the edit to the owner and their adviser.
- Never apply a reduced minimum wage rate for a zero-hours or casual worker; the rate depends on age band and apprentice status only.
- This output is a working document prepared for the owner to check against their own contract templates and pay records, and for their adviser to check before the contract is issued or relied on. It applies the Employment Rights Act 1996 and the current state of the Employment Rights Act 2025 to a specific contract; it is not legal advice and it is not confirmation that the contract complies.

## Built from
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 27A, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/section/27A, Act of Parliament, read 3 November 2026: the definition of a zero hours contract and the exclusivity ban, behind step 1.
- GOV.UK, "Zero-hour contracts", https://www.gov.uk/contract-types-and-employer-responsibilities/zero-hour-contracts, published by the Department for Business and Trade, no revision date shown on the page, read 3 November 2026: the plain-English exclusivity rule and the confirmation of minimum wage entitlement, behind steps 1 and 2.
- CMS, "Government consultation on reforms to zero hours contracts", https://cms.law/en/gbr/legal-updates/Government-consultation-on-reforms-to-zero-hours-contracts, law firm briefing, read 3 November 2026: the status of the Employment Rights Act 2025's notice and cancellation-pay provisions as not yet commenced and dependent on further consultation, behind steps 3 and 4.

# zero-hours-notice-pay

## You are given
The zero-hours or casual contract document being reviewed, in full text. A sample of actual hours worked and pay received for the worker over a recent period, if available. The date of this review. Any current commentary or gov.uk page the owner wants checked for a commencement update on the Employment Rights Act 2025's zero-hours provisions, with its URL and publication or last-checked date.

## Produce
Write into a `./zero-hours-notice-pay-output/` folder:

1. `exclusivity-check.csv` with columns: `clause_text_verbatim`, `location_in_document`, `prohibits_other_work`, `requires_employer_consent`, `verdict`. `prohibits_other_work` and `requires_employer_consent` are `yes` or `no`. `verdict` is `no exclusivity clause found`, `unenforceable under section 27A(3)`, or `wording unclear, review with adviser`.
2. `minimum-wage-check.csv` with columns: `pay_period`, `hours_worked`, `gross_pay`, `effective_hourly_rate`, `worker_age_band`, `applicable_nmw_rate`, `verdict`. `verdict` is `pass` or `below applicable rate`.
3. `commencement-status.csv` with columns: `right_name`, `source_checked`, `source_url`, `source_date`, `in_force`, `date_of_this_check`. `right_name` is `reasonable notice of shifts` or `payment for cancelled, moved or curtailed shifts`. `in_force` is `no` unless a supplied primary source states otherwise, in which case the source is quoted in `gaps.md`.
4. `contract-overstatement-check.csv` with columns: `clause_text_verbatim`, `location_in_document`, `presented_as`, `verdict`. `presented_as` is `business policy` or `legal entitlement`. `verdict` is `pass` or `overstates current legal position`.
5. `gaps.md` - a numbered list of: every `unenforceable under section 27A(3)` row; every `below applicable rate` row; every `overstates current legal position` row; any supplied source claiming the 2025 Act's notice or cancellation-pay rights are now in force, quoted in full with its URL so the owner can verify it directly; and any pay period with no hours or pay data supplied.

## Rules
- Codex counts, matches and checks text against the supplied legislation and guidance. It never decides whether a clause should be removed, and it never asserts a commencement date for the 2025 Act's provisions beyond what a supplied, dated, primary source states.
- `in_force` defaults to `no` for both named rights; it changes only on a verbatim quote from a supplied primary source, recorded in full in `gaps.md`.
- `applicable_nmw_rate` is read from the rate the owner supplies for the worker's age band and the period in question, never assumed or carried over from a different period without checking it is still current.
- Never flag a zero-hours contract as unlawful for having no notice or cancellation-pay clause; no such statutory duty currently exists to check it against.
- Use British English, GBP, and DD Month YYYY dates. No em dashes in any file you write.
- Every file ends with this line: this is a working document prepared for the owner to check against their own contract templates and pay records, and for their adviser to check before the contract is issued or relied on. It applies the Employment Rights Act 1996 and the current state of the Employment Rights Act 2025 to a specific contract and is not confirmation that the contract complies.

## Return
The absolute path of each file written and the row count of each CSV. Every exclusivity clause found and its verdict. Every pay period checked against minimum wage, with any shortfall named. The commencement status recorded for both named future rights, with the check date. Any contract wording that overstates the current legal position. The `gaps.md` item count.