Record numbers on zero-hours contracts

New research by the Work Foundation, a labour market think tank, has found that a record 1.1 million working-age people are on zero-hours contracts in the UK as their main form of employment.

The analysis also showed that women are 1.2 times more likely than men to be on this type of contract; black workers are 2.7 times more likely than white workers to be on zero-hour contracts, while those from multiple/mixed backgrounds are 2.3 times more likely than white workers to be on them.

​Young workers (16 to 24-year-olds) are almost six times more likely to be on zero-hours contracts than workers across older age groups. Importantly, this is not just students fitting work around studies, as young workers who are not students are still three and a half times more likely than other age groups to be on zero-hours contracts.

​This type of contract is most prevalent in certain sectors of the economy, namely accommodation and food, arts, admin and health and social.

Although some employers in these sectors are actively using zero-hour contracts to manage fluctuating workforce requirements others such as Wetherspoons, have introduced an option for guaranteed hours for its workforce. As a measure of their popularity, the company reported that 99 per cent of people opted for the guaranteed hours contract, with only one per cent choosing a zero-hours model.

Given these findings, the think tank recommends that the government should:

• Require employers to provide guaranteed contractual hours for all roles from day one.
• Ensure all workers have a day one right to flexible working.
• Ensure that anyone working 25 per cent more than their contracted hours has a right to an amended contract, if they want it, that reflects their actual hours.
• Require employers of people working irregular hours to provide a three-week notice period of their shifts ensuring the right to compensation for a cancelled shift if not followed.
• Require employers with a workforce of 250 or more people to report annually on key employment data, including employment contracts (e.g. full-time, part-time, zero-hour, agency) and staff turnover.
• Increase funding for labour market enforcement resourcing, which should include setting up Secure Work Taskforces with representatives of employers, trade unions and other workforce representatives, and regulators in sectors in which insecure work is prevalent in order to pilot alternative models such as digital self-rostering and bank systems, as well as negotiated sectoral standards for pay and hours.

To read the full report, click here.