Zero hours contracts make up 5% of all UK employment - ONS

Employment contracts in the UK with no guaranteed hours make up 5% of the total contracts given out to workers, the Office of National Statistics has revealed.

The total number of so-called zero hours contracts in the UK is now at 1.4m, which is actually down from the equivalent figure for 2016, which sat at 1.7m.

As part of the Labour Force Survey (LFS), the amount of people who said their main job was based on a zero hour contract was 883,000, representing 2.8% of all employment.

The number of such contracts decreased from 903,000 in the same period in 2016, a fall of 20,000.

That decrease was the first of its kind since 2011, with zero hours contracts being on a steady upward trend since that time.

The survey concluded that the typical profile of employees working without guaranteed hours was ‘likely to be young, part-time, women or in full-time education.’

65.4% of people on zero hours contracts are working part-time when compared with 25.4% of people who are working on such contracts.

Almost one quarter of those surveyed who were not on guaranteed hours said they worked in the health and social service industry.

There has been a significant backlash against businesses which make use of the practice. Earlier this month workers at fast food chain McDonald’s staged a strike against the use of the contracts and other company policies.