Zero hours contract or bank staff contract

Welcome Ana
I would advise you to think very carefully before instituting such contracts. Apart from the legal issues involved it may damage your credibility as a charity

Hi Peter

I think the problem is that the term “zero hour contract” has become toxic. It is possible to operate these ethically, and building up a bank of people who can be offered work as and when a need occurs can be perfectly ethical. The first requirement is for complete transparency from the start so that the applicants know what is on offer. Then, once you have your bank, you need to run it ethically. This includes people being free not to take work when it isn’t convenient without there being any penalty.

One of the organisations I support is a social enterprise which offers zero hours contracts for cover staff. It’s ideal for students or people with caring responsibilities. We have people on these contracts who have repeatedly turned down offers of regular hours. If someone hasn’t done any work for a few months we would write to them and ask if they still want to be contacted. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t, but it is up to them.

However, I do agree that there could be an effect on reputation if the charity doesn’t think through very carefully how they will offer and manage these contracts. I would rather offer a zero hours contract transparently than a contract with extremely low regular hours that will be operated like a zero hours contract and would feel more confident dealing with any external interest about the former than the latter.

Hi Ana

This is the best guidance I have come across
www.eversheds-sutherland.com/.../index.page

Hi Ana

This is the best guidance I have come across
www.eversheds-sutherland.com/.../index.page

Thanks David, I’ll review the guidelines and see how these can fit into our strategy.