Zero hours contracts are not new; they were not borne out of the financial crisis or the recession. Their growth however is impossible to ignore. Since 2006, the number of people employed on zero hours contracts has risen by 70,000 to just over 200,000 in 2012.
This figure is almost certainly an under-estimate, as many people will not realise they are on a zero hours contract. If, as it seems, zero hours contracts are part of the new labour market, and not simply a temporary reaction to the recession, we need to show a willingness to combat their worst excesses.
A study by the Resolution Foundation found that people employed on zero hours contracts earn 40 per cent less than those in fixed hours employment. Zero hours contracts have traditionally been employed in the hospitality and leisure sectors, but they are increasingly being used in the health, social care and further education sectors.
The use of zero hours contracts in NHS hospitals has risen sharply in the last two years. Figures uncovered through a freedom of information request made by my office found that tens of thousands of NHS staff, including thousands of nurses and midwives, are held on zero hours contracts, which guarantee no minimum hours, and therefore no minimum pay.
Out of 88 NHS hospitals for which data is available, 77 reported employing staff on zero hours contracts, and the top ten trusts have over 10,000 on zero hours contracts between them.
The sheer number of NHS staff on zero hours contracts, including thousands of nurses and midwives, is shocking. Zero hours contracts can have a severely detrimental effect on people’s lives. Workers on these contracts can have little certainly over their expected weekly earnings, and therefore cannot plan their family finances.
The disruption to family life as a result of frequent short-notice requirements to work make so many things, from arranging childcare to doing the weekly shop, nearly impossible to plan.
The widespread use of zero hours contracts is bad not just for NHS staff, but for patients too. Patients need continuity in healthcare, and zero hours contracts mean that the nurse treating them could change every day they are in hospital.
During the debate on zero hours contracts today, I called on the government to make a firm commitment to cracking down on the abuse of these contracts.
Many people employed on zero hours contracts do work fairly regular and oftentimes long hours. In these cases, zero hours contracts are not about flexibility for the employer, but about control over the employee.
Zero hours employees can turn down work, but there is growing evidence that some employers cut the hours of any worker who turns down the offer of work, due to late notice or difficult hours, in a practise known as ‘zeroing-down’.
Many workers start early in the morning and are expected to stay at work until late in the evening, with multiple unpaid breaks in between. People on zero hours contracts, whether they treat our sick, look after our elderly or serve our food, need a commitment from the government, to tackle this growing inequality in the labour market.
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Julie Elliott is the Labour MP for Sunderland Central
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Blanket condemnation of zero hours contracts should be avoided. Under some circumstances they are useful and pose no threat.
For example, if you are a scientist paid by a University you may well want to undertake research in a hospital setting. This research may well be facilitated if you have a zero hours contract with the hospital. Such research is growing rapidly as the need grows for collaboration between ‘natural scientists’ and ‘clinical scientists’.