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Zero Hour
David Garcia, Chair of the British Cleaning Council (BCC), discusses with us zero-hours contract reforms and the cleaning sector.
The Government’s planned changes to zero-hours contracts could have significant implications for cleaning businesses, particularly the many small and medium-sized enterprises operating across the sector.
Contractors may need to cover sickness
and holidays, respond to short-notice customer requirements, mobilise new contracts or provide additional operatives for seasonal and one-off work. These arrangements can also suit workers who value the ability to accept hours around caring, studying or other commitments.
However, concerns have long been raised about workers having insufficient certainty over their hours, earnings and shift patterns. The Government says its reforms are intended to address ‘one-sided flexibility’ while retaining flexibility for those who genuinely want it.
The changes are contained in the Employment Rights Act 2025, although the relevant measures have not yet taken effect. The detailed regulations are still being considered following consultation, with implementation expected during 2027.
Under the proposals, qualifying workers would have the right to be offered guaranteed hours reflecting those regularly worked during a reference period. The Government’s preferred initial reference period is 12 weeks. Workers would not be compelled to accept an offer and could remain on a zero-hours arrangement if that suited them. Employers could nevertheless be required to assess working patterns and make further offers following subsequent reference periods.
The legislation will also create rights to reasonable notice of shifts and changes to shifts. Workers could become entitled to payment when shifts are cancelled, moved or curtailed at short notice. Similar protections are planned for qualifying agency workers.
For cleaning businesses, the reforms could bring benefits. More predictable employment may improve recruitment, retention and employee wellbeing, while stable working patterns could support training, engagement and service consistency. However, the potential cost to business is a substantial concern.
The Government’s latest national assessment estimates that the reforms could generate direct costs to all UK
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employers of between £350m and £2.9bn per year, with an indicative central estimate of £1.1bn. After taking account of the benefits which can currently be monetised, the estimated net cost is between £300m and £1.4bn annually.
These are economy-wide estimates rather than figures for the cleaning sector. They are also highly dependent on decisions still to be made about eligibility thresholds, notice periods, compensation rates and reference periods. Nevertheless, they illustrate the potential scale of the financial impact.
For cleaning businesses, costs could arise from payments for cancelled shifts, additional workforce planning and the administration required to monitor hours, identify qualifying workers and issue guaranteed-hours offers.
These demands may be especially challenging for SMEs with limited HR, payroll and legal resources. Many already operate on narrow margins and have restricted scope to absorb additional employment costs. There is a risk that these extra costs could affect the commercial viability of some contracts.
Cleaning contracts can also change quickly when clients alter specifications, reduce building occupancy or cancel work at short notice. A contractor could guarantee hours based on a busy reference period, only for customer demand subsequently to fall.
This raises important questions. Where a customer changes their requirements at short notice, contractors may need contractual mechanisms allowing any resulting employment costs to be recovered. Tender pricing may also need to reflect the additional obligations. Clients may well resist paying more for contracts.
The BCC supports employment practices which treat cleaning operatives fairly and recognise their essential contribution. At the same time, the final regulations must reflect the operational realities of a sector containing many SMEs which use zero-hours contracts for legitimate reasons.
The priority must be a workable balance: greater security and predictability for workers, alongside sufficient flexibility and commercial protection for businesses.
www.britishcleaningcouncil.org x.com/TomoCleaning
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