“With the tough times set to continue, now is the perfect time for the government to be reviewing - and hopefully regulating - the increasing use of these exploitative contracts.”
ZERO HOURS CONTRACTS FOUR TIMES HIGHER THAN ESTIMATES
8 August 2013
Research conducted by the CIPD reveals that the number of people on zero hours contracts is potentially 1million, four times the official estimate.
The latest figures from the Chartered Institute of Professional Development (CIPD) found that 3 to 4 per cent of the country’s workforce are on zero hours contracts. This suggests that the Office for National Statistics’ calculation of 1 per cent – or 250,000 zero hours workers – is an underestimate. The survey of 1,000 employers found that one-fifth employed at least one person on a zero hours contract, although the majority of those organisations used zero hours contracts for less than 10 per cent of their workforce.
Employers in the voluntary sector (34 per cent) and the public sector (24 per cent) were more likely to use zero hours contracts than private sector companies (17 per cent).
The figures revealed that zero hours contracts were most common in the hotel, catering and leisure industry (48 per cent), education (35 per cent) and healthcare (27 per cent).
CAN AN INDIVIDUAL WORKING UNDER A ZERO HOURS CONTRACT BE AN EMPLOYEE?
9 August 2013
With zero hours contracts hitting the headlines this week, there is some confusion over what zero hours contracts hours actually are.
Sarah Ashberry from Pinsent Masons employment law specialists, describes a zero hours contract as a contract for a worker, not an employee. The arrangement being that the employer does not have to offer any work to the worker, so it is on an ‘as and when’ basis and the worker is expected to work when required. Sarah goes on to say, “That is, of course, why these are controversial because it would seem to be quite an unequal arrangement – it puts the control in the hands of the employer and they can flex the arrangement to suit themselves which is often ideal for the employer and perhaps less ideal for the worker because they have a state of uncertainty and they don't always know how many hours per week they will be required - of course, a lot of people quite like working in that way. Sometimes zero hours contracts actually become something else - they become an employment contract.” Sarah explains that a zero hours contract can become an employment contract so an individual working under a zero hours contract can become an employee and this can happen in two ways. It can happen deliberately where both parties, the worker and the employer, regard themselves as in more of a part-time work situation, a part-time employment contract, and they have what is called "mutuality of obligation". The employer is bound to offer work and the employee is equally bound to turn up for that work and accept it. So that is fine and people might refer to it as a zero hours contract but in fact they have got a contract of employment but everyone is happy with that situation and everyone knows what it is.
CIPP Policy News Journal
16/04/2014, Page 99 of 519
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