Vale & West Chartered Accountants Blog

CIPD warns against banning zero-hour contracts

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has warned that calls to ban zero-hours contracts could actually be counterproductive, as it could lead to some people giving up work altogether.

The TUC has recently called for a ban on zero-hours contracts after research by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that workers on such contracts are more than twice as likely to work night shifts than the rest of the workforce and earn, on average, £4 less an hour.

According to the TUC, night shifts were a usual part of the working pattern of almost a quarter of workers on zero-hours contracts, compared with just 11 per cent of the rest of the workforce.

In addition, these workers are paid on average £7.70 per hour compared with £11.80 for the rest of the workforce and the zero-hours workers clocked in an average of 25 hours per week compared with 36 hours for everyone else.

Based on its analysis of the ONS’ research, a spokeswoman for the union said that the Government should “stamp out these exploitative contracts”. As the vast majority of people on them “want out”. She added that regular night work at low pay put the health of zero-hours workers at risk.

However, separate research by the CIPD found that 65 per cent of workers on zero-hours contracts were satisfied with their job and a spokesman for the Institute said the result of a blanket ban on such contracts would likely be damaging to many workers.

He added that people value the flexibility offered by zero-hours contracts, which allow them to balance work with studying, caring or any other commitments or interests they might have. However, he cautioned that such contracts should only be used when there is a clear business need to do so.

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