1st May 2025 11:55
(Alliance News) - The chief executive of retail firm Next PLC has warned that the UK government's crackdown on zero-hours contracts could prove to be a "wrecking ball for the part-time economy".
Simon Wolfson, who has headed the clothing company for 24 years, said Next does not use zero-hours contracts, but does employ 25,000 part-time employees.
He argued that many part-time workers are not able to work full-time due to studies or caring responsibilities, for example, but still appreciate being able to take extra work during certain periods.
Meanwhile, sectors like hospitality and retail need different staffing levels at different times of year and value being able to offer extra hours during peak season to their longstanding employees.
He warned that new legislation to tackle "potentially exploitative zero-hours contracts" risks "dismantling" legitimate employment practices around part-time work.
His comments came as the House of Lords started line-by-line scrutiny of the Employment Rights bill, which is set to require employers to offer guaranteed hours to zero-hours or low-hours contract workers who have regularly worked extra hours over a defined period.
Wolfson told the House of Lords: "My concern is the requirement to offer additional contract hours to those who voluntarily work extra hours will inadvertently prevent those additional hours being offered at all.
"I am not exaggerating when I say that, if the threshold for low-hours contracts is set too high, it will take a wrecking ball to the UK's part-time economy.
"It will deprive millions of people of a valuable source of flexible income and multiple industries of the flexibility they need to offer excellent services in sectors where demand is variable and volatile.
"My worry is that the bill will make it almost impossible for businesses to offer additional voluntary hours to workers with contracts below the low-hour threshold."
This is because if businesses offer additional hours to part time-staff, they could end up with permanent, unaffordable overstaffing, he said.
The retail boss told peers: "Restaurants and shops simply cannot afford to have as many people working in February as they do in December. It's a fact.
"They cannot take the risk that extra hours to cover seasonal peaks or summer holidays then become permanent costs for the rest of the year.
"Faced with the choice of managing an impossibly complex system, along with the inherent risk of having to contract staff for more hours than the business will need, we will have no choice.
"We will simply not be able to offer additional hours to those staff on low-hour contracts."
He insisted this would mean that businesses would instead take on additional temporary workers, depriving loyal and skilled employees of an opportunity to supplement their income.
All of this would be "bad for employees and catastrophic for the service industry", Wolfson concluded.
He told the government it is "indefensible" not include the low-hours threshold in the bill, because it is "fundamental to the scope and impact" of the legislation.
Responding, Labour frontbencher Margaret Jones said the threshold would be decided by regulations at a later date and there would be a consultation.
This is an "anti-avoidance measure", she said, aimed at "preventing employers avoiding the duty to offer guaranteed hours by moving a worker on to a contract guaranteeing only a very small number of hours".
Jones argued that it is important for government to have the "flexibility" to change the threshold to respond to "evolving work practices".
If the threshold is fixed in primary legislation, it could lead to "unintended consequences or the gaming of those arrangements", she said.
Next shares were flat at 12,330.00 pence each on late Thursday morning in London.
By Abbie Llewelyn, PA political staff
Press Association: News
source: PA
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