Employers use 1.4m non-guaranteed minimum hour contracts, says ONS
30 April 2014
Just days after Labour Party leader Ed Miliband vowed to give workers on zero-hours contracts extra rights should Labour win the General Election in 2015, new research by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggests that UK employers are using 1.4m employee contracts that do not guarantee a minimum number of hours.
Wed, 30 Apr 2014
Just days after Labour Party leader Ed Miliband vowed to give workers on zero-hours contracts extra rights should Labour win the General Election in 2015, new research by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggests that UK employers are using 1.4m employee contracts that do not guarantee a minimum number of hours.
Non-guaranteed hours contracts (NGHCs) include, but are not exclusively, zero-hours contracts, as they also include some other contract types that do not guarantee a minimum number of hours.
The new figures come from a snapshot survey of employers carried out by the ONS between late January and early February this year.
According to ONS, around 13% of employers surveyed reported some use of NGHCs.
This included almost half of all businesses in the tourism, catering and food sectors, and more than one in five employers in health and social work.
They were relatively rare in financial and professional services and the manufacturing, energy and agricultural industries.
Larger employers were much more likely to use NGHCs than smaller ones. Nearly half of businesses with 250 or more employees make some use of NGHCs, compared with 12% of businesses with fewer than 20 employees.
Previous ONS estimates have been based on responses of employees taking part in the ONS-run Labour Force Survey (LFS). That total was most recently put at 583,000.
An ONS spokesperson tells Recruiter that part of the explanation for the difference between the LFS figure and the new higher figure published today is that some employees work for more than one employer.
The spokesperson adds that ONS has consistently taken the view that surveying employers gives a more accurate picture than the LFS.
The LFS also shows that people working on ‘zero-hours contracts’ were more likely to be female (55%), in full-time education (18%) or part-time workers (64%) than the rest of the workforce. They were also more likely to be under 25 or over 65 years old.
In addition to those NGHCs reported to be in use during the two-week survey period, ONS found evidence of a further 1.3m contracts where no work was undertaken. This total might include people with contracts with several employers; agency staff, those not wanting to work; those who have found another job elsewhere but remain on employer records; some people on leave or sick and those not offered work in the reference period.
According to the ONS, overall this group probably includes some contracts that need to be added to the official 1.4m estimate but needs to be investigated in more detail. ONS will undertake further research in this area and report later in the year.
Just days after Labour Party leader Ed Miliband vowed to give workers on zero-hours contracts extra rights should Labour win the General Election in 2015, new research by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggests that UK employers are using 1.4m employee contracts that do not guarantee a minimum number of hours.
Non-guaranteed hours contracts (NGHCs) include, but are not exclusively, zero-hours contracts, as they also include some other contract types that do not guarantee a minimum number of hours.
The new figures come from a snapshot survey of employers carried out by the ONS between late January and early February this year.
According to ONS, around 13% of employers surveyed reported some use of NGHCs.
This included almost half of all businesses in the tourism, catering and food sectors, and more than one in five employers in health and social work.
They were relatively rare in financial and professional services and the manufacturing, energy and agricultural industries.
Larger employers were much more likely to use NGHCs than smaller ones. Nearly half of businesses with 250 or more employees make some use of NGHCs, compared with 12% of businesses with fewer than 20 employees.
Previous ONS estimates have been based on responses of employees taking part in the ONS-run Labour Force Survey (LFS). That total was most recently put at 583,000.
An ONS spokesperson tells Recruiter that part of the explanation for the difference between the LFS figure and the new higher figure published today is that some employees work for more than one employer.
The spokesperson adds that ONS has consistently taken the view that surveying employers gives a more accurate picture than the LFS.
The LFS also shows that people working on ‘zero-hours contracts’ were more likely to be female (55%), in full-time education (18%) or part-time workers (64%) than the rest of the workforce. They were also more likely to be under 25 or over 65 years old.
In addition to those NGHCs reported to be in use during the two-week survey period, ONS found evidence of a further 1.3m contracts where no work was undertaken. This total might include people with contracts with several employers; agency staff, those not wanting to work; those who have found another job elsewhere but remain on employer records; some people on leave or sick and those not offered work in the reference period.
According to the ONS, overall this group probably includes some contracts that need to be added to the official 1.4m estimate but needs to be investigated in more detail. ONS will undertake further research in this area and report later in the year.
