Number of workers on zero-hours contracts hits record high ahead of crackdown

The number of workers on zero-hours contracts has hit a record high, ahead of Labour's planned crackdown on the practice from next year.

A surge in 16-to-24-year-olds and workers not in full-time education helped drive the number of people employed on the contracts to 1.23 million in December.

Analysis by the Work Foundation at Lancaster University, based on Office for National Statistics (ONS) data, revealed that was a 91,000 increase on a year earlier.

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) said it "will ensure people can have the security they need by giving eligible workers the right to guaranteed hours".

Zero-hours contracts let employers hire staff with no guarantee of work, with employees only offered the hours for which they are needed - often at short notice.

Proponents have argued the contracts help support young people into their first jobs and offer flexibility around education or childcare.

But critics say zero-hours contracts leave workers facing unpredictable schedules, no guaranteed income and unable to plan ahead financially.

Labour's 2024 election manifesto promised a ban on what it called the "exploitative" contracts as one of its first policies.

It formed part of the government's Employment Rights Act, and is expected to come into force next year as a right to guaranteed hours for workers.

Under the Act, workers will also be entitled to what the government considers "reasonable notice" of their schedules and compensation for shifts cancelled with short notice.

But the Work Foundation said its analysis underlined the "urgent need" for the government and MPs to finalise the measures as soon as possible.

Its director Ben Harrison said employers were still reliant on the "highly precarious" zero-hours contracts, despite Labour's plans.

"Such arrangements underpin the kind of 'one-sided flexibility' that leaves over a million workers unsure how many hours they will work or how much money they will earn next week," he said.

The figures showed an additional 181,000 people are on zero-hours contracts than when Labour came to power in 2024. Young workers are five times more likely to be on zero-hours contracts, while women make up more than half (54%) of workers on the contracts.

The Work Foundation said the proportion of zero-hours contractors who were reliant on them for full-time work stood at a record 32.8%, with many looking for additional hours or second jobs.

Anna Jameson, a 22-year-old retail worker from Maltby, South Yorkshire, said zero-hours contracts had left her with "constantly fluctuating hours and wages", and that "you never know what your pay will be at the end of the month".

As a single parent living with her father, stepmother and brother, she said "you want to create security, but when your wages are unpredictable, everything feels uncertain".

She said zero-hours work had made it difficult to move out into her own rental accommodation, with landlords demanding stability.

Trade unions called for measures in the Employment Rights Act to be "implemented in full as soon as possible".

Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), said zero-hours contracts were "trapping workers in insecure jobs with little control over their hours and pay".

He said: "This will make a real difference to working people's living standards."

A DBT spokesperson said: "Tackling insecure work is vital if we are to boost incomes, raise living standards and increase productivity.

"We will work closely with workers and employers alike on how the measures are implemented."