Zero hours contracts are changing. Here’s what it means for your care rota.

HR support from a Fareham HR consultant who works with care providers, so you understand the new zero hours rules and are ready before they land in 2027.

If you run a care home, a supported living service or a home care agency, there’s a good chance your rota depends on bank staff, relief carers and people on zero hours contracts. That flexibility is how you cover sickness, hospital admissions and packages that change overnight.

The new rules are aimed squarely at that kind of flexibility. Compensation for cancelled shifts, proper notice of rotas, and guaranteed hours offers for people who work regular patterns.

For most sectors this is an admin headache. For care, where your income is often set by a local authority rate you can’t renegotiate, it’s a cost you need to plan for now.

Here’s what’s confirmed, what’s still open, and what to do about it.

What’s actually changing?

The government is tackling what it sees as one sided flexibility, where the employer gets all the benefit and the worker carries all the uncertainty. The core rules are set. Some of the numbers are still being worked out through secondary legislation.

Crucially, this isn’t just about staff with “zero hours” written on their contract. Bank staff, casual relief workers and agency carers are all likely to be in scope.

Guaranteed hours offers

If someone on a zero hours or bank arrangement works a regular pattern for you over a set reference period, you’ll be required to offer them a contract that reflects those hours. They can turn it down, but the offer has to be made.

Think about your most reliable bank carer. The one who’s done 25 hours a week for the last year and always picks up the extra weekend shift. Under the new rules, you can’t keep relying on them week after week while leaving them on a zero hours arrangement.

That’s not all bad news. Staff who feel secure tend to stay, and in a sector where turnover is a constant drain, that matters.

Rota notice and cancelled shifts

This is where care providers are most exposed.

You’ll need to give workers reasonable notice of their shifts and of any changes. Rotas finalised on a Thursday for the following Monday, or a text the night before asking someone to cover, will become a risk.

If you cancel or cut a shift at short notice, you’ll owe the worker compensation. The exact amount, and what counts as “short notice”, hasn’t been finalised yet. The obligation itself is already in the legislation.

Now think about how often that happens in care:

• A home care client is admitted to hospital and their calls stop that morning
• A family cancels visits because they’re taking Mum away for the week
• A client passes away and the package ends overnight
• An occupancy drop means you need fewer staff on a unit than you rostered

Today, you simply take those hours off the run. Under the new rules, each one could carry a compensation cost. And unless your contracts with commissioners and private clients say otherwise, that cost sits with you, not them.

Agency staff are included

If you use agency nurses or carers to fill gaps, these rules reach them too. Responsibility for guaranteed hours offers will be shared between you as the hirer and the agency. How that split works in practice is still being finalised, but using an agency won’t take you outside the rules.

What’s still being decided

A few important details are still open:

• The reference period for working out regular hours. 12 weeks has been put forward, with 26 and 52 weeks also considered.
• A low hours threshold, below which the rules won’t apply. The range being discussed is somewhere between 8 and 20 hours a week.
• How hours are averaged, using either the mean or the median over the reference period.
• The start date, expected to be in 2027 and set through secondary legislation.

Why care providers can’t afford to wait

I hear it a lot: “We’ll sort it when the detail’s confirmed.” I understand why. Care managers already have enough on their plate.

But the shape of these changes is clear. Only the numbers are moving. If you wait, you’ll be rewriting bank staff contracts, reworking rotas and renegotiating client terms all at once, probably in the middle of winter pressures.

And the preparation pays off regardless. Settled, well planned staffing is good for continuity of care, and it’s something CQC looks at under safe and effective staffing.

Five things to do now

1. Pull the real hours data Your rostering or care planning system already holds it. Export the last 12 weeks of actual hours for every bank, relief and zero hours worker.

2. Spot who’s likely to qualify Look for anyone working a steady pattern. If someone has consistently done 15 hours or more a week, assume they’ll be entitled to an offer, whatever the final threshold turns out to be.

3. Get your contracts reviewed Zero hours and bank staff agreements will need updating for rota notice and cancellation rules. You’ll also want a guaranteed hours offer template ready, so you’re not drafting one under pressure.

4. Check your client and commissioner terms Do your private client agreements include a cancellation charge? Does your local authority contract say anything about cancelled visits? If a cancellation costs you money under the new rules, you need to know whether you can recover any of it.

5. Model the cost What does your weekly wage bill look like if half your bank staff move onto fixed hours? How many short notice cancellations did you have last quarter, and what would those cost in compensation? Better to know the number now than find out in your first month.

Questions worth asking yourself

• Do you know how many hours each of your bank and zero hours staff have worked in the last three months?
• Could you issue a guaranteed hours offer letter tomorrow if you had to?
• How many visits or shifts did you cancel at short notice last month?
• Do your client contracts let you recover any of that cost?
• Would your rota still work if your most flexible staff moved onto fixed hours?

If any of those made you pause, now’s the time to act.

Let’s get your rota ready before the deadline

Cavell HR works with care providers across Hampshire and the South. We understand how care rotas actually work, the pressure of tight commissioning rates, and why you can’t just stop using bank staff.

I’ll sit down with you, look at your current staffing, and work out exactly who’s likely to be affected. Then we’ll update your contracts, build the templates you need, and make sure your processes are ready before the rules take effect.

If you’ve got bank staff, relief carers, zero hours workers or agency staff, it’s worth talking sooner rather than later.

Book a discovery call and we’ll talk it through. No pressure, no hard sell. Just a clear plan.