Zero hours workers should have right to request fixed contract, Cable says

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A right to request a fixed employment contract – much like the right to request flexible working – should be available for workers on zero hours arrangements, business secretary Vince Cable has said.

In a speech to the think tank Resolution Foundation, Cable (pictured) said: “Where I personally think we ought to be going is looking at the right to request a fixed contract, building on the model which we already have for flexible working. I am looking at how we can best do that.”

Cable dismissed calls from the Labour Party for a compulsory requirement for employers to offer a fixed-hours contract after a year on a zero hours contract, warning this measure could result in unscrupulous employers sacking workers after 11 months.

“There are lots of contexts where zero hours contracts work for the employee and the employer, and if that were the case you would get a massive proliferation of unsatisfactory 11-month, zero-hours contracts in those sectors and firms where more rigid arrangements don’t work well,” he said.

The government is to set out its plans to tackle exclusivity contracts after receiving more than 30,000 responses to the consultation on the issue.

Cable also pointed to the latest job figures which show the last quarter saw an increase in employment of 283,000, adding that it was the result of a flexible labour market. But he said that alongside the growth in employment has been growing concern about low productivity. 

“The economy we now have, it may be a short term phenomenon, is very strong employment growth, relatively low unemployment, weak wage growth and relatively weak productivity. The question is now how do we address that and what are the underlying causes,” he added.