Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Bill

Scott Benton Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 3rd February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Scott Benton (Blackpool South) (Con)]

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

I am pleased that we have time to debate this important issue in the Chamber. I know that many hon. Members in the Chamber will have a personal interest in this area and am grateful for their participation. Zero-hours contracts are an important part of the UK’s flexible labour market, both for employers when there is not a constant demand for staff and for individuals who need to balance work around other commitments such as childcare and study. However, the 2017 Taylor review of modern working practices found that workers on zero-hours contracts, as well as agency workers and temporary workers, struggle where flexibility is “one-sided” in an employer’s favour. Some employers misuse flexible working arrangements to create unpredictability and insecurity of income, and there is a reluctance among some workers to assert basic employment rights. That one-sided flexibility means that workers need to be available to their employer with absolutely no guarantee of work. Employers can also schedule or cancel shifts with little notice, leading to insecurity of hours and income for workers—or, in the case of temporary workers, dismissal altogether at short notice.

To address one-sided flexibility, the Taylor review recommended that the Government should create a new right to request a contract with guaranteed hours for zero-hours contract workers. The successful passage of my Bill would create a new right for eligible workers to request a more predictable working pattern.

[Nickie Aiken (Cities of London and Westminster) (Con)]

I welcome my hon. Friend’s private Member’s Bill, because it is incredibly important to give people on zero-hours contracts the security of knowing that they will have protected hours. Does he agree that, as we are trying to encourage the over-50s back into the workplace, the Bill may go some way to giving them security over their hours and pay for the work that they do?

[Scott Benton]

I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention. She is a brilliant champion for her constituents in the Cities of London and Westminster. Of course, the nature of the economy in central London means that, often, people will be in the retail, hospitality and the tourism industry with insecure work. I thank her for championing the Bill. The point that she makes regarding older people in employment is important. The Government are actively looking at that. I hope that they continue to press the issue to ensure that we can address labour shortages by widening the pool of potential people to take those vacancies.

The new right would give workers who would like more certainty the ability to request a more predictable work pattern that reflects the hours or times that they work. A qualifying worker would be able to make an application to change their existing work pattern if it lacked predictability in terms of the hours or times they worked, or if they have a fixed-term contract for less than 12 months. The Bill would ensure that workers and employers retain the benefits of zero-hours contracts and other forms of atypical work. Of course, workers who are content to work more varied hours will continue to be able to do so.

Many individuals who work unpredictable patterns often experience an imbalance of power with their employers, which leaves them afraid to ask for more fixed conditions out of fear of being dismissed or denied future shifts. The Bill would address that unfair imbalance of power, empowering and encouraging workers to talk to their employer about their contract, safe in the knowledge that starting the conversation would not result in any detriment whatsoever to the worker. Workers will be better able to secure employment that suits their individual circumstances, helping them to be more satisfied at work and less stressed around the lack of predictability of their hours and income.

[Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)]

It is good that we have cross-party support on this issue as well. It is one thing for an employee to have a right, but as we have seen, quite often employers who do not want to give their employees those rights and treat them well have ways of getting around that; they will find an excuse to dismiss the employee and take on somebody who might be prepared to be more flexible. How does the hon. Gentleman envisage that the safeguards and rights under this Bill will be genuinely enforced? I would suggest trade union membership as a pretty good start.

[Scott Benton]

I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention and I will get to that section of my speech in a couple of minutes. She does great justice to the people in her constituency who work on zero-hours contracts by raising that important point. The Bill introduces a right to request a more predictable working pattern and the process employers have to follow is clearly outlined to ensure that there is some certainty when employees request that their contract is changed and that their employer deals with them seriously and appropriately.

The Bill helps to support the income security of workers at a time when many are feeling increased cost of living pressures. It will not only benefit workers; businesses will reap the rewards of having a more engaged and happier workforce. The rights introduced through my Bill will apply to all eligible workers, including agency workers, not only those employed on zero-hours contracts; it will apply to the wide range of workers who have unpredictable working conditions, including temporary workers, agency workers and workers with non-guaranteed hours.

Workers must have worked for their employer for a set period of time before an application can be made. This period will be set out in regulations; I am sure the Minister will expand on that in his remarks, but it is expected to be 26 weeks. The worker only needs to have been employed with their employer at some point during the month before that period and to be working again for the employer when the application is made. Given that the Bill targets workers with unpredictable working patterns, they are not required to have worked for their employer continuously.

The same criteria will apply to agency workers applying to temporary work agencies. Agency workers who make applications directly to hirers will be required to have worked for their hirer for at least 12 weeks continuously during the 26-week period. This replicates the provision in the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 which states that after 12 weeks’ continuous service an agency worker will gain entitlement to the same set of employment rights as if they had been recruited directly. It ensures that workers cannot use the right to request a more predictable contract to circumvent the agency workers regulations and gain entitlement to additional employment rights before they have worked those 12 continuous weeks.

Once a worker has made their request, the employer will be required to notify them of their decision within one month. An employer will be able to turn down a request for more predictable conditions on specific statutory grounds, similar to those established for the existing right to request flexible working. That will help to ensure that businesses are not unfairly burdened by the new right, for example if the costs of providing a worker with a more predictable pattern would be too burdensome at the time.

Workers will have the option to complain to an employment tribunal if their employer does not handle the request in a reasonable manner, wrongly treats the request as withdrawn, dismisses or treats the worker poorly because of their request, or rejects the application on the basis of incorrect facts. We assume, however, that most declined requests will be handled informally and will not give rise to an employment tribunal claim.

I thank officials at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for their assistance with drafting the Bill and the arrangements for today. This area has broad cross-party support: indeed, it was included in the manifesto I stood on and the Liberal Democrats and Labour made similar commitments on zero-hours contracts in their manifestos. I hope that Members on both sides of the House share my desire to ensure that the Bill succeeds. As you will know, Mr Deputy Speaker, there is a certain fragility, to say the least, that accompanies the passage of private Members’ Bills through the House, and I would therefore like to navigate this process with the support of Members on a cross-party basis.

This Bill is a golden opportunity to bring about real change on the pressing issues of atypical contracts and one-sided flexibility, at a time when insecurity of pay and hours is particularly pressing. I hope that Members will be able to support it.

--- Later in debate ---

[Scott Benton]

With the leave of the House, I thank Members for their contributions today. In particular, my hon. Friend the Member for Devizes (Danny Kruger) as ever made a thoughtful contribution, and I agree wholeheartedly with his comments about the need to utilise the experience, skills and potential of British workers, rather than automatically reaching for this lever of unskilled immigration and workers from overseas. I thank the hon. Member for Bradford East (Imran Hussain) for signalling the support of the official Opposition for my Bill. There is also the brilliant support from the Government, particularly the Minister and his private team, who have been incredibly helpful over the past few weeks and alleviated some of my stress with their technical guidance on some of the finer points of the Bill. That has been greatly appreciated.

I know that my fellow Thatcherite, my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Sir Christopher Chope), is keen to introduce his Bill, so I will keep my remarks short. Suffice it to say, I hope that Members on both sides of the House can agree that this important piece of legislation will give workers struggling with unpredictability in their working lives a way of addressing that, by empowering them to discuss their working conditions with their employer to see whether they can gain more predictability in their hours and income. I commend the Bill to the House.

Question put and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time; to stand committed to a Public Bill Committee (Standing Order No. 63).