CIPD research finds one million workers on zero hours contracts

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has conducted research revealing that as many as one million of the UK's workers are on zero hours contracts - four times higher than previously thought, in a development that will interest many Employee Management Ltd (http://www.employeemanagement.co.uk) HR advice recipients.

The institute's most recent figures show that 3 to 4 per cent of the UK's workforce are on zero hours employment contracts, suggesting that the Office for National Statistics underestimated in calculating that just 1 per cent of the working population was subject to them. The latter figure would be the equivalent of about 250,000 employees.

The latest survey by the CIPD of 1,000 employers found that at least one person was employed on a zero hours contract at 1 in 5 firms, although this generally applied to less than 10 per cent of a company's workforce.

Voluntary sector workers (34 per cent) were most likely to be on a zero hours contract, with the opposite applying to those in private sector employment (17 per cent). The survey revealed 24 per cent of public sector workers to be on such contracts.

By sector, HR support clients may be interested to learn that the hotel, catering and leisure industry saw the greatest proportion of zero hours contracts, at 48 per cent, followed by the 35 per cent and 27 per cent recorded by education and healthcare respectively.

Also included in the latest CIPD data, which forms part of the body's forthcoming 2013 Labour Market Outlook, was a sample of 148 zero hours contract workers. These respondents worked 19.5 hours per week on average, although 38 per cent said that they were in full-time employment, which is typically 30 hours or more per week.

However, one in seven felt that they were not given enough hours by their employer to ensure a basic standard of living. By age group, people were twice as likely to be in either the younger (aged 18 to 24) or older (over 55) working age groups if they were employed on a zero hours contract.

But although CIPD chief executive Peter Cheese agreed that zero hours contracts ought to come under closer scrutiny, he warned against assumptions that it was automatically wrong to use them.

He said that when they were "used appropriately", zero hours contracts provided invaluable flexibility for both employers and employees, for example in enabling "parents of young children, carers, students and others to fit work around their home lives."

He did, however, warn that "for some this may be a significant disadvantage where they need more certainty in their working hours and earnings, and we need to ensure that proper support for employees and their rights are not being compromised through such arrangements."

We are happy to advise your firm on the appropriate use of zero hours contracts here at Employee Management Ltd (http://www.employeemanagement.co.uk), as part of our highly rated employment law advice service. Simply contact us now to find out more.

Editor’s Note: Employee Management Ltd (http://www.employeemanagement.co.uk) are represented by the search engine advertising and digital marketing specialists Jumping Spider Media. Email: info@jumpingspidermedia.co.uk or call: +44 (0)20 3070 1959 / +34 952 783 637.