New research reveals one million Britons are working under
zero-hours contracts.
A recent survey of 1,000 employers by the Chartered
Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), has revealed that one in five
employers use zero hours contracts for at least one staff member.
The figures from the CIPD, are in fact four times higher
than the figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) who last week
suggested that 250,000 people were working on zero hour contracts.
The CIPD has revealed that 3-4 % of the entire UK workforce
is employed under zero-hours contracts, equating to an estimated one million
people. The employees contracted under these conditions were most likely to be
between the ages of 18-24, working on average 20 hours per week.
For some people looking for flexibility in their employment,
zero hours contracts can of course be an ideal solution. However for many
working on these contracts they are faced with unpredictability in their shift
patterns and variable wages. Around 14% of affected staff said that they could
not earn a basic standard of living according to the research from the CIPD.
While a welcome reduction in unemployment figures was
recorded in the three months to May this year as the number of people out of
work fell by 57,000 to 2.51 million, on the other hand the number of people on
zero hours contracts is now at an all-time high according to the CIPD, which as
Frances O’Grady of the Trades Union Congress argued:
“The fact that
zero-hours contracts have increased across the economy is further evidence of
how tough it can be for people at work… People are being made to feel grateful
for any kind of employment regardless of the pay, terms and conditions.”
As an employer, here at We Fight Any Claim (WFAC) we offer
full time, permanent contracts to anyone joining the WFAC team. We value the
importance of stability for employees which means that we offer our staff 40
hours per week, modular training and are currently working with the Welsh Government
to provide future training and progression opportunities within the business.
As economic optimism returns to the UK with the National
Institute for Economics and social research (NIESR) anticipating economic
growth of 1.2% and 1.8% in 2013 and 2014 respectively, we hope that businesses
and employers will soon have the confidence to employ their staff on more
structured contracts ultimately working to eradicate uncertainty and
instability for employees who have been forced to take on zero hours contracts
or otherwise face unemployment.
