Proposal to ban zero-hour contracts in NI

Stormont’s economy minister is proposing a package of significant changes to employment law including an effective ban on zero hour contracts in Northern Ireland.

Conor Murphy set out the details in an Assembly statement on Monday.

He has launched a consultation with the aim of introducing new legislation in late 2025.

Zero hour contracts allow employers to hire staff with no guarantee of the hours they will work.

Mr Murphy said zero hour contracts could be replaced with a "banded hours’" system, similar to one in the Republic of Ireland.

Employment law reforms

Under that system a banded contract gives a worker the right to work an average of the hours in a specified band for 12 months.

There are eight bands covering a certain number of hours per week, for example, 6-11 or 11-16 hours per week.

The Labour Party has also promised to end "exploitative" zero hour contracts and "one sided flexibility" if it wins the general election.

Labour’s measures would not automatically apply in Northern Ireland as employment law is largely devolved.

Mr Murphy’s proposals also include the right to a week’s unpaid carers leave in any 12-month period, which would bring Northern Ireland into line with the rest of the UK.

Mr Murphy said it was his ambition that there should be paid carers leave but that would cost the Stormont budget up to £60m unless a similar scheme was introduced in Great Britain.

A further proposal is that people should have the right to request flexible working as soon as they start a job rather than having to wait six months.

Mr Murphy said this was a move which could help to tackle economic inactivity.

He is also suggesting that statutory paternity leave could be taken in two, one-week blocks rather than having to be taken in a single two-week block as at present.

The consultation will run until the end of September with the responses informing the draft legislation.

Gerry Murphy, from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, said the proposals "would be the most substantial act from the NI Assembly for workers since devolution and the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement".

Retail NI chief executive Glyn Roberts said it was a "substantial and potentially far-reaching draft programme of legislation" which "must work for both business of all sizes and workers alike".