New Part 3 of Schedule A1 to the ERA 1996 creates a new right to payment for shifts that are cancelled, moved or curtailed at short notice for agency workers, as defined in new section 27BV of the ERA 1996, which is similar to the right for directly engaged workers created by section 3.
	Paragraph 21 sets out the application of Part 3 to shifts worked by agency workers.
	Subparagraph (1) provides that Part 3 applies to a shift that would be, would have been or is being worked by an agency worker.
	Subparagraph (2) provides that in Part 3, ‘the work-finding agency’ is the agency with which the agency worker has a worker’s contract or an arrangement and by virtue of which they would work, would have worked or are working the shift and ‘the hirer’ is the person for and under the supervision and direction of whom the agency worker would work, would have worked or is working the shift.
	Paragraph 22 creates the right to payment for shifts that are cancelled, moved or curtailed at short notice for agency workers.
	Subparagraph (1) creates a duty (subject to exceptions in paragraph 24) on work-finding agencies to make a payment, of an amount to be specified in regulations made by the Secretary of State, to an agency worker each time there is a cancellation, movement or curtailment of their shift at short notice.
	For the duty to arise, the shift must be one that the agency worker is required to work for the hirer, that the agency worker has been requested to work for the hirer and the agency worker has agreed to work, or that the agency worker has suggested working for the hirer and this has been agreed. This latter scenario would include shifts that a hirer or work-finding agency agreed an agency worker could work after swapping it with another worker.
	For the duty to arise, the cancellation, movement or curtailment must also arise by virtue of the worker’s contract or arrangement that the agency worker has with the work-finding agency and therefore the duty does not apply to cancellations, movements or curtailments initiated by the agency worker.
	Subparagraph (2) concerns when a payment under subparagraph (1) must be made. The payment must be made by no later than the end of a period to be specified in regulations made by the Secretary of State.
	Subparagraph (3) defines what "short notice" means for the purposes of the Part in relation to cancellation, movement or curtailment of a shift and therefore the amount of notice that must be given to avoid liability to make a payment. What amounts to short notice will be specified in regulations. The timeframe that the short notice period runs until depends on whether the shift is cancelled, moved and/or curtailed, as follows:
under subparagraph (3)(a), where a shift is cancelled, the short notice period ends with when the shift would have started.
under subparagraph (3)(b), where a shift is moved, or moved and curtailed (e.g. if a 2-5pm shift changes to 4-6pm), the short notice period ends with the earlier of when the shift would have started, or when the shift is now due to start. Alternatively, where notice is given on or after the start of the shift (e.g., if during the shift the agency worker is informed that some hours have been moved so that the shift is ending later), that notice is short notice.
under subparagraph (3)(c), where a shift is curtailed with a change to when the shift is to start (and there is no movement of the shift, e.g. where a 2-5pm shift changes to 4-5pm), the short notice period ends with the earlier of when the shift would have started or is now due to start.
under subparagraph (3)(d), where a shift is curtailed with no change to the start time of the shift (e.g. where a 2-5pm shift is changed to 2-3pm), the short notice period ends with when the shift is due to start. However, where notice is given of such a curtailment on or after the start of the shift (e.g. if during the shift the agency worker is informed during what was due to be a 2-5pm shift that they are to finish at 4pm), that notice is short notice.
	Subparagraph (4) provides that the Secretary of State may make provision in regulations about when notice of the cancellation, movement or curtailment of a shift is to be treated as having been given to an agency worker.
	Subparagraph (5) provides that a shift counts as being "moved" if its start time is changed by more than an amount of time specified in regulations. A shift is also considered to be moved where part of a shift is moved or where a shift is divided by more than an amount of time to be specified in regulations and the result is that the shift ends later, for example, if a shift is changed from 9am to 5pm to 9am to 12pm and 4pm to 9pm. The Secretary of State can make regulations to prescribe a maximum amount of time by which shifts can be moved at short notice without having to make a payment under this paragraph.
	Subparagraph (6) clarifies that a request to work a shift includes a request made to multiple workers (e.g. via a group text message or app) in circumstances where the hirer does not need the shift to be worked by all of those to whom the request is made.
	Subparagraph (7) then clarifies that, in such scenarios, a cancellation includes an agency worker not being needed to work a shift because others have agreed to work it. Accordingly, agency workers in such scenarios are still entitled to payment where they are told that they are not needed to work a shift, although this is subject to paragraph 24 (in particular, paragraph 24(1)(b)) requiring the agency worker to reasonably believe that they would be needed to work the shift).
	Paragraph 23 provides further details on how the powers in new paragraph 22 can be exercised.
	Subparagraph (1) provides that regulations made to specify the payment amount under 22(1) may not specify an amount that is greater than what the agency worker would have earned had the shift not been cancelled, moved or curtailed, i.e. that regulations:
under subparagraph (1)(a), may not specify a payment amount greater than what the agency worker would have earned had they worked the hours that were cancelled;
under subparagraph (1)(b), where a shift is moved or moved and curtailed (at the same time) and no part of the amended shift corresponds to the original time of the shift (e.g. where a shift is moved from 9am-12pm to 1pm-3pm), may not specify an amount greater than what the agency worker would have earned from working the original shift. So, in the example, the payment amount may not be higher than what the agency worker would have earned from working 9am to 12pm;
under subparagraph (1)(c), where a shift is moved or moved and curtailed (at the same time) and part of the new shift corresponds to the original time of the shift (e.g. where a shift is moved from 9am-11am to 10am-12pm), may not specify an amount greater than what the agency worker would have earned had they worked the part of the original shift that was moved, or moved and curtailed. So, in the example, the payment amount may not be higher than what the agency worker would have earned from working 9am to 10am;
under subparagraph (1)(d), where a shift is curtailed but not moved or where a shift is moved and curtailed (at the same time) and the shift is now due to start and end within the time of the original shift (e.g. where a 9am-1pm shift changes to 10am to 1pm), may not specify an amount greater than what the agency worker would have earned had they worked the hours that will not now be worked. So, in the example, the payment amount may not be higher than what the agency worker would have earned from working 9am to 10am.
	Subparagraph (2) clarifies that regulations under paragraph 22(1) may specify different payment amounts depending on how short the notice was.
	Subparagraph (3) provides that the period for short notice, to be set in regulations under paragraph 22(3), may not be greater than 7 days.
	Paragraph 24 provides for exceptions to the duty to make payment for a cancelled, moved or curtailed shift.
	Subparagraphs (1)(a), (2) and (3) provide that the requirement to make a payment under paragraph 22 does not apply to an excluded shift and provide a power to specify what constitutes an "excluded shift" in regulations. In particular, subparagraph (3) provides that shifts may be excluded by reference the number of hours to be worked during the shift, whether alone or taken together with other shifts, being more than a specified number and a shift corresponding to the time of a shift provided for by a worker’s contract between the agency worker and a work-finding agency or another person involved in the supply or payment of the agency worker.
	Subparagraph (1)(b) provides that the agency worker must reasonably believe they would be needed to work the shift that they were requested to work in order to be entitled to payment under paragraph 22. This means that, for example, where a request is made to multiple workers to work a shift and it is made clear that there is not enough work for all of them and that the worker who accepts the shift first will work the shift, an agency worker who sees that another worker has already accepted the shift but still agrees to work the shift will not be entitled to a payment for short notice cancellation if they are informed at short notice that they are not needed to work the shift.
	Subparagraph (1)(c) provides a power to the Secretary of State to specify other circumstances where the duty at paragraph 22 does not apply, i.e., create exceptions, whether those circumstances relate to the work-finding agency, hirer or otherwise.
	Subparagraph (4) provides that, where a work-finding agency is not required to make a payment to an agency worker because of the circumstances in regulations under subparagraph (1)(c) apply, the work-finding agency must notify the agency worker of the relevant exception and include an explanation of why the work-finding agency was entitled to rely on that exception. This enables the agency worker to understand that they will not receive payment and why.
	Subparagraph (5) ensures that work-finding agencies do not have to disclose information in the notice under subparagraph (4) that is commercially sensitive or that they would otherwise be prohibited from disclosing, including the disclosure of any personal data that will contravene data protection legislation. Subparagraph (6) provides that ‘data protection legislation’ has the same meaning as in the Data Protection Act 2018.
	Subparagraph (7) provides a power to the Secretary of State to specify in regulations how and in what form a notice made under subparagraph (4) must be given and when it is deemed to be given.
	Subparagraph (8) provides that a work-finding agency is not required to give a notice under subparagraph (4) if they pay the agency worker the amount that they would have had to pay to the agency worker under paragraph 22 for the same hours had an exception not applied within the timeframe specified for payment under paragraph 22(2). Accordingly, no notice needs to be provided under subparagraph (4) if an exception applies but a work-finding agency nonetheless pays the agency worker within the timeframe for making the short notice payment.
	Subparagraph (9) provides that the hours to which a payment relates for the purposes of subparagraph (8) are to be calculated in accordance with paragraph 25(4).
	Paragraph 25 explains how the right to payment for short notice cancellation, movement or curtailment of shifts under paragraph 22 relates to remuneration due under the agency worker’s contract.
	Subparagraph (1) provides that the right to receive a payment under paragraph 22 does not affect the agency worker’s contractual rights to remuneration.
	Subparagraph (2) provides that where the work-finding agency makes a contractual payment to an agency worker in relation to hours for which a payment for short notice cancellation, movement or curtailment is due, the contractual payment goes towards discharging the work-finding agency’s liability to pay under paragraph 22, i.e. is counted towards the payment due.
	Conversely, subparagraph (3) provides that, if the work-finding agency makes a payment for short notice cancellation, movement or curtailment required under paragraph 22, that counts towards discharging any liability on the part of the work-finding agency to pay contractual remuneration for the same hours.
	Subparagraph (4) explains how the hours to which a payment relates for the purposes of this subparagraph are to be calculated, as follows:
where a shift has been cancelled, the hours are those that would have been worked (by virtue of the worker’s contract or arrangement between the work-finding agency and the agency worker) if the shift had not been cancelled;
where a shift has been moved, or moved and curtailed, and no part of the shift now corresponds to the time of the original shift (e.g. where a shift is moved from 9am-12pm to 1pm-3pm), the hours are those that would have been worked (by virtue of that worker’s contract or arrangement) during the original shift;
where a shift has been moved, or moved and curtailed, and part of the amended shift corresponds to the time of the original shift (e.g. where a shift is moved from 9am-11am to 10am-12pm), the hours are those that would have been worked (by virtue of that worker’s contract or arrangement) during the part of the original shift that does not correspond to the amended shift;
where a shift has been curtailed, or moved and curtailed and the amended shift is to start and end within the time of the original shift (e.g. where a 9am-1pm shift changes to 10am to 1pm), the hours are those that would have been worked (by virtue of that worker’s contract or arrangement) if the original shift had not been amended.
	Paragraph 26 enables agency workers to bring a claim to an employment tribunal where they consider that the duties set out in Part 3 have been breached.
	Subparagraph (1)(a) enables agency workers to bring a claim where they consider that the work-finding agency has breached the duty to make payment under paragraph 22 by failing to make the whole or any part of the payment.
	Subparagraphs (1)(b) and (c) enable agency workers to bring a claim where they consider that the work-finding agency has breached the duty to provide a notice (of the relevant exception and reasons why it applies) under paragraph 24(4) where, under subparagraph (1)(b), they allege that the work-finding agency unreasonably failed to provide notice, or, under subparagraph (1)(c), they allege that the notice given does not refer to any provision or refers to the wrong provision of the regulations (made under paragraph 24(1)(c)), does not contain an explanation of why the exception is considered to apply or contains an explanation that is inadequate or untrue.
	Subparagraphs (2) to (6) make provision about time limits for bringing a claim under subparagraph (1).
	Under subparagraph (2), a complaint that that a work-finding agency has breached the duty to make payment under paragraph 22 must be brought within six months from the day after the date on which payment under paragraph 22 was or should have been made (in accordance with regulations made under paragraph 22(2)).
	Under subparagraph (3), a complaint that a work-finding agency unreasonably failed to give a notice under paragraph 24(4) must be brought within six months from the day after the date on which the notice should have been given (in accordance with regulations made under paragraph 24(7)(b)).
	Under subparagraph (4), a complaint that the notice given by a work-finding agency under paragraph 24(4) does not refer to any provision or refers to the wrong provision of the regulations (made under paragraph 24(1)(c)), does not contain an explanation of why the exception is considered to apply or contains an explanation that is inadequate or untrue must be brought within six months from the day after the date on which notice under paragraph 24(4) is given.
	Subparagraph (5) enables a tribunal to extend the time limits at subparagraphs (2) to (4) by a reasonable period where the tribunal is satisfied that it was not reasonably practicable for the claim to be presented before then.
	Subparagraph (6) provides that section 207B of the ERA 1996 applies so that the time limits at subparagraphs (2) to (4) can be extended to allow for conciliation to take place.
	Subparagraphs (7) and (8) provides that, where the agency worker is complaining that the notice given under paragraph 24(4) refers to the wrong provision of the regulations (made under paragraph 24(1)(c)) or contains an explanation that is inadequate or untrue, and the work-finding agency claims it was provided information for the notice by the hirer which was wrong, inadequate or untrue (and accordingly claims the hirer is at fault for the notice not meeting the requirements), the work-finding agency can request that the hirer is added as a party to the proceedings before the tribunal has reached a decision on the merits of the claim. The tribunal must grant such an application except where it is made after the hearing begins, in which case the tribunal may refuse it.
	Subparagraph (9) however provides a power to provide in regulations that subparagraph (7), and therefore subparagraph (8), do not apply in relation to specified descriptions of hirers. This enables regulations to be made to prevent hirers from being taken to tribunal under these provisions.
	Paragraph 27 makes provision regarding the remedies that a tribunal may award where they find a complaint under paragraph 26 well-founded.
	Subparagraph (1) provides that, where a tribunal finds that the work-finding agency has breached the duty to make payment under paragraph 22, the tribunal must make a declaration to that effect and order the work-finding agency to pay the amount due. This may either be the full amount of payment due under paragraph 22 where no payment has been made or any further amount due where the work-finding agency has paid too little.
	Subparagraph (2) provides that, where a tribunal finds a claim in respect of a notice of an exception (brought under subparagraph 26(1)(b) or (c)) well-founded, the tribunal must make a declaration to that effect and may, at its discretion, order the work-finding agency to pay the agency worker an amount that it considers fair in the circumstances, but not exceeding the maximum amount to be specified in regulations made by the Secretary of State.
	Subparagraph (3) provides that an employment tribunal may not order a work-finding agency to pay an amount under subparagraph (2) in relation to notice of an exception where the tribunal orders the work-finding agency to pay the agency worker the amount due under paragraph 22. Therefore, agency workers are prevented from obtaining an additional payment where a work-finding agency gave a notice of an exception and it is found that an exception did not apply, meaning that the agency worker is entitled in any event to payment of the amount due under paragraph 22.
	Subparagraph (4) provides that a tribunal must have regard to the seriousness of the matter complained of in determining whether to require the work-finding agency to pay an award under subparagraph (2) and the value of the award.
	Subparagraph (5) provides that, if a tribunal adds a hirer as a party to the proceedings in accordance with paragraphs 26(7) and (8) and the tribunal finds the complaint (regarding the notice referring to wrong provisions, or the explanation being inadequate or untrue) well-founded and accordingly awards compensation, the tribunal can order the hirer to pay such a proportion of the compensation as is fair where it finds that they did provide the work-finding agency with information for the purposes of the notice that was wrong, inadequate or untrue. Accordingly, hirers can be required to pay compensation where the notice under paragraph 24(4) does not meet the requirements due to them providing information that is wrong, inadequate or untrue.
	Under subparagraph (6), in these cases where the hirer is required to pay compensation, the hirer is treated as an employer for the purposes of sections 12A and Part 2A of the Employment Tribunals Act 1996, and accordingly penalties can be imposed on the hirer where there are aggravating circumstances in the case (under Section 12A of that Act) or they fail to pay the compensation due (under Part 2A of that Act).
	Paragraph 28 makes provision for the recovery of payments made by the work-finding agency from the hirer.
	Subparagraph (1) provides that a work-finding agency is entitled to recover from a hirer a payment made to an agency worker under paragraph 22 of such a proportion that reflects the hirer’s responsibility for the short notice cancellation, movement or curtailment to which the payment relates. This includes recovering the full amount of the payment, where the hirer is fully responsible for the short notice cancellation, movement or curtailment, or a smaller proportion of that amount where the work-finding agency is also responsible for the short notice cancellation, movement or curtailment to some extent.
	This right only applies where the payment was made under a "pre-existing arrangement" involving the work-finding agency and the hirer. "Pre-existing arrangement" is defined in subparagraph (3) as an arrangement (which includes a contract) that was entered into on or before the last day of the 2-month period beginning with the day on which the Employment Rights Act 2025 was passed and that has not been modified by the work-finding agency and the hirer after then.
	Subparagraph (2) provides that regulations can be made to provide that subparagraph (1) does not apply in relation to a hirer of a specified description so that payment cannot be recovered from such hirers under these provisions (albeit they could be recovered anyway if the contract or arrangement between the hirer and work-finding agency allows this).
	Subparagraph (4) ensures that a work-finding agency can also recover payments for short notice cancellation, movement or curtailment from a hirer that the work-finding agency is ordered to make by a tribunal under paragraph 27(1)(b).
	Subparagraph (5) clarifies that a work-finding agency can recover payments they had to make for short notice cancellation, movement or curtailment from a hirer even where the agency worker was to be, or was, supplied to work for and under the supervision and direction of the hirer by a person other than the work-finding agency.
	No specific provision is made for the enforcement of this right as it should be possible to enforce the right in the civil courts as a sum recoverable by virtue of an enactment.
Part 1: Employment Rights Zero hours workers, etc New Part 3: Shifts: right to payment for cancelled, moved and curtailed shifts