What rights do my zero-hours staff actually have?

The answer Just Ask, HR gives

Detailed Dan — Structured and thorough — every step in order.

The phrase "zero-hours" appears nowhere in most employment rights legislation — what matters is that these are almost certainly workers (possibly employees, depending on how you actually operate), and workers carry a substantial rights package:

• Paid holiday: 5.6 weeks pro-rated — for irregular hours, accruing at 12.07% of hours worked each pay period (leave years from April 2024). Rolled-up holiday pay (12.07% uplift, itemised on the payslip) is lawful for them and usually the cleanest approach. "Casuals don't get holiday" is the single most expensive myth in hospitality.
• National Minimum/Living Wage for every working hour — including time spent on mandatory training and shift briefings.
• Rest breaks: 20 minutes past 6 hours, 11 hours between shifts, statutory weekly rest.
• SSP if they meet the average-earnings threshold — casual status doesn't exclude it (check current thresholds on gov.uk).
• Protection from discrimination (Equality Act) and, if they qualify as employees with service, unfair dismissal rights. Note: simply stopping someone's shifts can amount to dismissal in substance.
• Exclusivity clauses are banned — you cannot stop zero-hours staff working elsewhere.

Employee or worker? Labels don't decide it — tribunals look at reality. If your "casuals" work a regular pattern you set, must accept shifts in practice, and can't send a substitute, they may well be employees, with notice rights, redundancy rights and unfair dismissal protection attached.

Direction of travel: reform under the Employment Rights Act agenda is tightening this area — guaranteed-hours offers reflecting actual hours worked, notice of shifts, and compensation for cancelled shifts. Regular-pattern staff on zero-hours paper are exactly the target; check gov.uk for what's currently in force and get ahead of it by offering minimum-hours contracts to your regulars now.