First employer-based estimates of 'zero hour contracts'

The Office for National Statistics has today published its first estimates of employer reported 'non-guaranteed hours' contracts - in other words, zero hour contracts and a few other types.

They found employers in Great Britain are using around 1.4 million employee contracts that do not guarantee a minimum number of hours. But, they've warned that this is not 1.4 million people.

They also found a further 1.3 million contracts where no work was undertaken - some of which they said will probably need to be added to the estimate. They're going to undertake more research in this area and report later in 2014.

Previously, the only estimates that have existed of zero-hours contracts have been based on the ONS's labour force survey. But, as we've discussed before, increasing awareness of the contracts meant that it was difficult to ascertain whether the increasing numbers reflected increasing use of the practice, or just more people knowing that they had a zero-hours contract.

Following a consultation on how best to control for these weaknesses, the ONS felt that employers were best placed to provide accurate information about the employment terms of their workforce - leading to today's statistics.