Free The Night and Save The Scene Scotland call for stronger protections for zero-hours nightlife workers

The organisations have submitted a joint response to the Government’s Make Work Pay: Ending one-sided flexibility consultation, which is seeking views on proposed reforms to zero-hours and similar contracts.

The consultation closes this week and covers insecure employment across sectors including hospitality, music venues and cultural spaces.

While Free The Night and Save The Scene Scotland acknowledge that flexibility is an important part of nightlife and hospitality, and stress that they are “not arguing for the elimination of genuinely casual work”, their response argues that regular workers should not be left on insecure terms or carrying the financial risk when shifts are cancelled, reduced or moved at short notice.

A number of specific recommendations have been made by the organisations, including a 12-week initial reference period, after which recurring shift patterns could trigger a fixed banded-hours contract, rather than the current potential wait of up to 12 months.

They are also calling for a minimum 20-hour threshold to prevent zero-hours contracts being replaced by low-hours alternatives, alongside guaranteed offers of hours reflecting the amount actually worked.

According to the Living Wage Foundation, 68% of contractors were found to be working between one and eight hours more than their actual contracted terms stated.

Almost 50% had worked up to 15 hours extra, and 19% reported between 16 and 24 hours of additional work.