Liberal Democrat law on zero-hours contracts is now in force

Liberal Democrats may no longer be in government but laws we made are still being implemented, reports Caron Lindsay. Last week, Vince Cable’s ban on exclusivity contracts in zero hours contracts came into force.

It was a punitive anomaly that a company could both have no obligation to provide work and to require that their employees did not work for anyone else. The CIPD, the organisation for HR professionals, wrote about the change on their blog:

Employers who do not guarantee staff any hours of work, but prevent them from working for another employer, could face legal ramifications from today under a provision in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act.

The ban on the use of exclusivity clauses in zero-hours contracts, which was first proposed by the outgoing coalition government, comes into force after a lengthy public consultation.

Before today employers were not prohibited from seeking exclusivity from an individual as this was considered a contractual matter between the employer and individual.

However, after 83 per cent of respondents to the government’s consultation voted in favour of a ban on exclusivity clauses, it is now a legal offence to prevent staff on zero-hour contracts from seeking other employment.