These contracts continue to receive bad press. You will recall from my May 2017 update that the Matthew Taylor review called for employers to be charged an increased rate if they hire workers on contracts that require them to be on standby for a certain period of time. He has said that his report will not advocate banning zero hours contracts altogether and has called on Theresa May to protect the UK’s “flourishing flexible labour market”. We are waiting for the full recommendations from his review to be published, but click here for the summary in my May 2017 update.

The latest news is that zero hours contracts are having a negative impact on both the physical and mental health of young workers. This is according to a study undertaken by the UCL Institute of Education, which surveyed 7,700 people and found that 25 year olds working on zero hours contracts were 41% less likely to be in good physical condition and one and half times more likely to report a mental health issue when compared to those in more permanent roles.

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has reported that 3.2 million people are engaged in insecure work (including zero hours contracts, agency work, other insecure temporary work or low-paid self employment). This is reportedly an increase of 27% over the last five years. TUC are calling for clearer definitions of employer/ worker/ self-employed status and a review of tax, social security and pensions systems to ensure that they don’t act as a deterrent to businesses to offer insecure forms of work. Interestingly, two weeks earlier the GMB union reported that 10 million people are engaged in insecure work (using similar criteria).

This is not legal advice; it is intended to provide information of general interest about current legal issues.