Zero hours contract shift cancellation. How close to start time can it be cancelled?

54and56

Hi all,

General query on employment law regulations or lack thereof.

Is there a statutory minimum notice period you must be given by an employer for the cancellation of a shift you were scheduled a week in advance to work or is it purely down to whatever minimum notice period (if any) is written into your zero hours contract?

FYI a relative does a bit of part time retail work to make ends meet and has on several occasions organised her schedule to be available to work shifts she has been allocated only to get a text/WhatsApp type message (some employee communication app the company use) from a manager mid morning (circa 11:30am) to say the shift she was due to work starting at 18:00 has been cancelled.

Typically no particular reason is given other than "it's covered" or she's "not needed" which she generally interprets as meaning they aren't as busy as they'd hoped to be.

I'm not anti zero hours contracts as I believe they provide some people who would themselves struggle to commit to a fixed schedule or minimum hours per week but do have a fair degree of flexibility in their day to day lives the ability to earn some extra money but I do think late cancellation of shift by the employer is a significant "con" especially when the employee has made arrangements to work the shift and it may be the only shift they were allocated that week so it's financially important for them to work it.

54and56

85 views and no comments/input?

Did I post in the wrong forum?

Mods: Please move to the correct forum (Legal Forum?) if appropriate. I searched for a "HR/Employment Law" forum but this is the closest I could find.