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...

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