As research shows that around a million workers in the UK are on zero-hours contracts, Business Secretary Vince Cable has pledged to review legislation on the controversial deals.
Research into the area by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) estimates that one million workers may be on the contracts, four times as many as official figures suggest.
Zero-hours contracts are used extensively in the fast-food business, with a staggering 90 per cent of McDonalds’ staff being on them; they are also used in the care sector and the NHS.
Under the deals, firms do not have to pay staff during quiet periods but can keep them on short notice for when they are needed. This means that workers have no idea of what they will be paid, leading to problems with budgeting.
While he has ruled out a complete ban on the contracts, the Business Secretary, who has been leading a review on the issue since June, said that he would look at changing the rules for workers who were only allowed to work for a single employer.
He said that once his department’s investigation into the issue is completed, which is likely to be in September, he will decide whether or not to hold a formal consultation on specific proposals surrounding the practice.
Meanwhile, the Labour party, which says that the Government had not been acting with sufficient urgency on the matter, will hold a summit on zero-hours contracts this week to look at the scale of the abuse.
Many politicians were surprised at the CIPD’s findings, as figures from the Office for National Statistics suggested that only 200,000 people were on the contracts at the end of 2012. However, the ONS changed this figure to 250,000 and intends to produce a new one based on different questioning techniques next spring and summer.