NEXT boss warns employment law changes could lead to 'chronic' overstaffing

The boss of NEXT has warned that Angela Rayner’s Employment Rights Bill risks leaving businesses "chronically overstaffed".

Lord Wolfson said plans to ban zero-hours contracts and require employers to guarantee a minimum number of weekly hours would act as a "wrecking ball" to part-time employment.

"Businesses, if they comply with the Bill, they risk being chronically overstaffed," he said during a House of Lords debate earlier this week, according to The Telegraph.

The Employment Rights Bill, expected to take effect next year, will expand union powers in the workplace and grant employees new rights to request flexible working arrangements.

The legislation also aims to crack down on "exploitative" zero-hours contracts and expand access to statutory sick pay.

The reforms, overseen by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, were a key pledge in Labour’s manifesto. The Government has described them as "the biggest upgrade to rights at work in a generation".

Zero-hours contracts are set to be replaced by so-called low-hour contracts, though Lord Wolfson has raised concerns over the lack of a clear definition. The NEXT CEO and Conservative peer has proposed an amendment in the House of Lords to define "low hours" as eight per week.

"To push that number higher would be to take a wrecking ball to the part-time working practices of millions of people in shops, restaurants, care homes, pubs and many other consumer-facing businesses, which, by their nature, have peaks and troughs in demand," he said.

"If an employer successfully implements a system, they will have to offer contracts regardless of whether there is any work for those people going forward.

"Your lordships will not be surprised to hear that restaurants, shops and pubs simply cannot afford to have the same number of people working in their establishments in February as they have in December. Nor can we take the risk that the extra hours required to cover many different seasonal peaks and sale events become permanent costs for the rest of the year."

Lord Wolfson shared that NEXT, which currently employs around 20,000 part-time workers, does not use zero-hours contracts, but instead hires temporary staff during its busy end-of-season sales, emphasising that the changes could leave many workers without tasks during quieter seasonal periods.

He said: "If it is not clear who will benefit, it is very clear who will suffer. It will be those who choose part-time contracts, such as parents with childcare responsibilities, students balancing their studies with earning and often taking their first step into employment, carers for elderly relatives or those seeking a transition into retirement."

A Government spokesman told the publication: "This Government is delivering the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation through our Plan for Change, and our landmark Employment Rights Bill is set to benefit more than half of all workers in the UK.

"Our focus is on giving financial security to people who don’t have it, particularly those who lack predictability, and we will continue to work closely with employers to ensure new laws work for them while putting money back into the pockets of working people."