The Office of National Statistics (ONS) revised its first estimate (200,000 contracts), saying that 250,000 people were employed on these contracts, based on its Labour Force Survey. The contracts put workers ‘on call’ or ‘standby’ so that they are available for work even if they may not be given any work at all or they may not know when and how many hours per week they will be working. This revision came after the disclosure that retailer, Sports Direct, JD Wetherspoon and Spirit Group chain of pubs and Cineworld employed nearly all of their 60,000 workers on them. Because of the controversy sparked off by this, Business Secretary Vince Cable ordered a report. (Ref. 130514)
The ONS also announced it will have to review the methodology by which it calculates the use of zero hour contracts after research by the Chartered Institute for Professional Development (CIPD) in its ‘2013 Labour Market Outlook’ suggested the number on zero hour contracts was around one million. The CIPD research revealed also that employers in the voluntary sector and the public sector (health, education especially) were more likely to use zero hours contracts than private sector employers. O
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