Concern at 'shocking' rise in zero hours contracts

The government should look at regulating zero hours contracts, the TUC has said. The union was commenting after figures published this week by shadow health secretary Andy Burnham MP revealed over 300,000 workers in the care sector alone are employed on zero hours contracts, TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: 'These shocking figures confirm what we have suspected all along - the rise in zero hours working is far greater than official reports suggest. The fact that over 300,000 workers in the care sector alone are employed on these contracts reveals the true extent of this worrying trend. Social care is not the only sector to be experiencing high levels of zero hours contracts - higher education, legal services and journalism all have large numbers of people working on these insecure terms and conditions.' She added: 'Secure employment would allow staff to concentrate more on their jobs instead of having to worry from one to day to the next whether they will have any work or money to pay for food and bills. The TUC welcomes the government's current review of zero hours contracts. We will be asking ministers to consider introducing regulation to prevent their continued misuse.' Shadow minister Andy Burnham told the Local Government Association conference this week that in 2011 there were 307,000 social care workers employed on zero hours contracts - equivalent to 20 per cent of the workforce. 'How can people who don't themselves have the security of knowing what they will bring into the family home pass on a sense of security to the people they are caring for,' he said. 'How much longer are we going to let this carry on?' In April, he said Labour should pledge to ban zero hours contracts at the next election. A report published on 25 June by the Resolution Foundation thinktank found that many people on these contracts live with 'almost permanent uncertainty' and are paid significantly lower wages than those on conventional deals. Insecure work has been linked to higher rates of occupational injuries and diseases.

• TUC news release. The Guardian. BBC News Online. Resolution Foundation news release and report, A Matter of Time: the rise of zero-hours contracts, Matthew Pennycook, Giselle Cory and Vidhya Alakeson, Resolution Foundation, June 2013. More on the hazards of insecure work.