Zero-hours contracts : calculate what you are owed

• Zero-hours workers who are workers or employees get National Minimum Wage / National Living Wage, statutory paid holiday, rest breaks, and protection against exclusivity clauses that ban other work.
• For leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024, irregular-hours and part-year workers (many zero-hours roles) accrue holiday at 12.07% of hours worked. Employers may use rolled-up holiday pay (extra, itemised, on top of wages for work).
• From April 2026, the National Living Wage for age 21+ is £12.71 an hour. Holiday pay must not be used to push work pay up to that floor.
• There is no automatic statutory right today to pay when a shift is cancelled at short notice, unless your contract or a clear policy already promises compensation. Acas says employers should have a clear cancel policy.
• ERA 2025 measures on guaranteed hours, reasonable notice, and short-notice cancelled or moved shifts are future reforms (consultation 2026; expected around 2027 after regulations). Do not treat them as current law.
• Unpaid hours and missing holiday are claimable now. Most tribunal claims still use 3 months minus 1 day. From 1 October 2026, most claims become 6 months minus 1 day if the clock starts on or after that date.

GOV.UK describes zero-hours (or casual) contracts as arrangements where you are on call when needed, the employer does not have to offer work, and you do not have to accept work when asked. They are common in hospitality, care, warehousing, delivery, bank NHS shifts, and gig-style roles.

Your rights turn on employment status (employee or worker), not on the "zero-hours" label. Genuinely self-employed people sit outside many of these protections. Acas stresses that employers must make status clear and grant statutory rights with no carve-out just because hours are unpredictable.

National Minimum Wage / National Living Wage

You must be paid at least the legal minimum for hours you work, regardless of how few hours are offered. From 1 April 2026, the National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over is £12.71 an hour (GOV.UK NMW rates).

GBP example: You are 28, on zero hours, and work 22 hours in a week at £12.71. Gross pay for those hours should be at least £279.62 before tax and National Insurance. If the employer only pays for 18 hours but you clocked 22 with supervisor approval, the missing 4 hours are unpaid wages: 4 × £12.71 = £50.84, plus any holiday pay that should have accrued on those hours.

Statutory paid holiday (12.07% and rolled-up pay)

GOV.UK confirms zero-hours workers are entitled to statutory annual leave like other workers. Almost everyone who is a worker or employee gets at least 5.6 weeks of paid statutory holiday a year.

For leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024, irregular-hours and part-year workers accrue entitlement as 12.07% of actual hours worked in each pay period. Many zero-hours patterns fall into the irregular-hours definition: paid hours in each pay period are wholly or mostly variable under the contract.

Employers may use rolled-up holiday pay for those workers: typically 12.07% of total pay in the pay period, paid with wages, clearly marked as a separate payslip item, and in addition to pay for work. It must not top up wages so that only the combined figure meets National Minimum Wage.

GBP example (rolled-up): You work 35 hours in a week at £12.71. Pay for work: 35 × £12.71 = £444.85. Rolled-up holiday at 12.07%: £444.85 × 0.1207 ≈ £53.69. That holiday amount should appear as its own line. If an "all-in" rate leaves the work element alone below £12.71, that is not how lawful rolled-up holiday pay works.

If the employer does not use rolled-up pay, holiday pay when you take leave can use a 52-week average of weeks in which you were paid (GOV.UK look-back rules apply). When you leave, you should usually be paid for accrued untaken holiday (unless it was already paid via lawful rolled-up pay).

Rest breaks and exclusivity

Acas and GOV.UK give zero-hours workers the same Working Time rest package as other adult workers in the usual case: an uninterrupted 20-minute break if you work more than 6 hours, 11 hours between working days, and weekly rest (24 hours a week or 48 hours a fortnight). The statutory daytime break is unpaid unless your contract says otherwise.

By law, an employer must not stop you looking for or accepting work elsewhere via an exclusivity clause. You can ignore such a clause. They must not treat you unfavourably or dismiss you for working for another employer (Acas / Employment Rights Act 1996 framework).

Today (September 2026)

If a shift is cancelled at short notice, there is no automatic statutory right to compensation merely because you are on zero hours. Whether you get paid depends on:

• what your contract or staff handbook already says
• any clear cancel policy the employer has published
• whether you had already started work (hours worked must be paid at least at NMW rates)
• other contractual promises (for example a guaranteed minimum call-out payment)

Acas good practice says employers should have a clear policy on cancelling work, including the notice they will give and details of any compensation. That is strong practical guidance. It is not a free-standing statutory cancelled-shift payment for every zero-hours worker today.

GBP example: Your contract says that if a shift is cancelled with less than 24 hours' notice, you receive two hours' pay. A six-hour evening at £12.71 is cancelled at 4pm for a 6pm start. Under that contract you may be owed 2 × £12.71 = £25.42. Without that clause or a similar policy promise, you may have no pay for the cancelled hours under current statute (you still keep all other rights above for hours you actually work).

Future reforms (ERA 2025: not yet in force)

The Employment Rights Act 2025 includes reforms aimed at zero-hours and similar contracts: offers of guaranteed hours reflecting regular patterns over a reference period, reasonable notice of shifts, and payments when shifts are cancelled, moved, or curtailed at short notice. Those measures require detailed regulations. Government consultation on the parameters ran in 2026. Implementation is widely expected around 2027, after regulations are made. Until then:

• do not assume you already have a statutory short-notice cancel payment
• do not treat guaranteed-hours offers as a current automatic duty
• do check your contract and workplace policy for any rights you already have by agreement

Until official GOV.UK and Acas pages say the rights are in force, treat headlines as preparation, not pay you can claim today.

Focus on evidence under current law: unpaid worked hours; NMW shortfalls; missing statutory or rolled-up holiday; contractual cancel pay if already promised; unlawful deductions.

GBP example: 12 unpaid hours at £12.71 = £152.52. On the 12.07% model those hours also build about 1.45 hours of leave. If rolled-up pay applies, roughly £18.41 (12.07% of £152.52) should appear as holiday pay on those earnings.

1. Write down dates, hours, rates, and the shortfall in pounds.
2. Gather rotas, messages offering or cancelling shifts, clock records, payslips, and the contract or handbook (especially any cancel policy).
3. Raise the issue in writing with your employer. Ask for unpaid hours and missing holiday to be corrected on the next payday.
4. Use a formal grievance if needed.
5. Contact Acas for advice and, if you may claim, start Early Conciliation. Notifying Acas in time can pause the tribunal clock.
6. An employment tribunal can deal with unpaid wages and related holiday claims.

Tribunal time limits: For most pay claims today (September 2026), you usually have 3 months minus 1 day. From 1 October 2026, most claims become 6 months minus 1 day if the clock starts on or after that date (Acas time limits). Grievances do not stop the clock on their own.

• "Zero-hours means no holiday." False. Statutory paid holiday applies if you are a worker or employee.
• "Cancelled shift pay is already law under ERA 2025." Not yet. Guaranteed hours, reasonable notice, and short-notice cancel payments need regulations and are expected later (around 2027). Today, look to your contract and policy.
• Folding holiday into a single rate so work pay alone sits below £12.71 (21+ from April 2026). Rolled-up holiday must be additional and itemised for leave years using the reformed model.
• Exclusivity clauses that ban other jobs. They are not enforceable in the way some employers claim.
• Waiting for a busy season to sort unpaid hours. Tribunal clocks keep running.
• Confusing Acas good practice on cancel policies with a statutory entitlement that already pays every cancelled shift.

Zero-hours disputes turn on evidence: who offered which shift, when it was cancelled, and what was paid. Log offers, cancellations, and worked hours in one place, then compare them with payslips before you escalate. Paye Mes Heures helps you track working time and prepare a clearer shortfall picture if you need Acas or a tribunal later.

• https://www.gov.uk/contract-types-and-employer-responsibilities/zero-hour-contracts
• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/simplifying-holiday-entitlement-and-holiday-pay-calculations/holiday-pay-and-entitlement-reforms-from-1-january-2024
• https://www.acas.org.uk/zero-hours-contracts
• https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates
• https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights
• https://www.gov.uk/rest-breaks-work
• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/implementing-the-plan-to-make-work-pay-and-employment-rights-act/plan-to-make-work-pay-and-employment-rights-act-timeline-update
• https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/make-work-pay-ending-one-sided-flexibility-reforms-of-zero-hours-and-similar-contracts
• https://www.acas.org.uk/employment-tribunal-time-limits