Guaranteed hours for zero-hours cleaners
What the Employment Rights Act 2025 means for cleaners on zero-hours and low-hours contracts, what's still being decided, and what to do now.
Updated 30 September 2026 · Written by RotaProof
A lot of cleaning work is done on zero-hours or low-hours contracts. The Employment Rights Act 2025 changes that: casual and low-hours workers will have the right to be offered guaranteed hours that match what they regularly work. This guide explains what's coming, what's still undecided, and what a cleaning company can do now.
What the new right is
At the end of each reference period, a qualifying worker must be offered a contract with guaranteed hours that reflect the hours they regularly worked in that period. The main points:
- Who it covers: workers on zero-hours contracts, and workers guaranteed only a few hours a week (below a "low-hours" threshold set in regulations). Agency workers are expected to be covered too, with the business they work for making the offer.
- The offer: guaranteed hours that reflect what they regularly worked in the reference period, with a work pattern that matches it.
- They can say no. Some people want to stay flexible, for example around study or another job. Turning the offer down is their right, and it has to be a genuine choice.
- It repeats. Offers come round again at the end of later reference periods.
What's still being decided
| Detail | What's been proposed |
|---|---|
| Low-hours threshold | Somewhere between 8 and 48 hours a week. The government prefers 8 to 20. |
| Reference period | 12 weeks (the government's preference), 26 weeks or 52 weeks. |
| Agency workers | Covered. The hirer (the business the cleaner works for) would make the offer of guaranteed hours, as a direct job. |
A cleaning example
Maria is on a zero-hours contract. Over the last 12 weeks she cleaned a school three afternoons most weeks, averaging 7.5 hours a week. Under the new rules you'd offer her a contract guaranteeing about 7.5 hours a week on that pattern. If she accepts, she has a new contract. If she declines, you record it and she stays on her current contract until the next review.
Daniel is guaranteed 20 hours a week. If that's above the low-hours threshold, he isn't covered by the offer rules at all.
What to do now
- List who might be covered: everyone on a zero-hours contract and everyone guaranteed fewer than 20 hours a week, the top of the government's preferred range. Self-employed cleaners aren't covered by these rules, but make sure they really are self-employed. See self-employed cleaners.
- Record the hours people actually work, week by week. The offer is based on history, so you need at least one full reference period of reliable records before the rules start. See clocking in and timesheets.
- Write down each person's contracted hours and hourly pay in one place. You'll need both for offers and for cancellation pay.
- Think about your contract prices. If regular cleaners move onto guaranteed hours, losing a client contract means you still owe those hours or need to redeploy people. Build that into how you price and staff contracts.
- Keep a record of every offer and answer, with dates.
Shift notice and cancellation pay come in alongside guaranteed hours. See shift notice and cancellation pay.
How RotaProof helps
RotaProof is rota, clocking-in and timesheet software made for cleaning companies. Plan the week by site or by person, let cleaners clock in from a link on their phone, approve the hours and download them for payroll. On the Assured plan it also tracks guaranteed hours and logs every shift change with the notice given. It won't put anyone on a shift until their right-to-work check is in order, and you can try it free for 30 days.
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Sources
This guide explains the rules as we understand them on the date above. It isn't legal advice. GOV.UK, Acas and the legislation are the final word, and if your arrangements are complicated, get advice from an employment lawyer.