CASUALISATION of teaching jobs is pushing lecturers and education workers towards food banks while their mental health sustains a huge blow, according to a damning report.

Research by the University and College Union (UCU) shows that 72 per cent of staff in further, adult and prison education are struggling to make ends meet — while one even reported that they had to use a food bank.

71 per cent of respondents to the survey said that their mental health had been damaged by working on insecure contracts.

Many spoke to the UCU about their fear of losing significant amounts of their income due to cuts to their hours with little or no notice. They often connected this with feeling anxious and depressed.

Almost half — 45 per cent — of respondents said that they believed their working conditions had damaged their physical health.

The report, “Counting the Costs of Casualisation,” said that almost a third of all work conducted by education workers on insecure contracts is unpaid. This has led people to take on several other jobs to make ends meet.

56 per cent of respondents had held two or more jobs in the last 12 months, and 39 per cent held two or more jobs in education.

Others expressed their anger over how it was becoming impossible to plan their lives, and said the constant insecurity of working hours meant that they could not secure a mortgage or, in some cases, even rented accommodation.

The report also highlighted the workplace imbalances between permanent staff and casually employed staff. One teacher said that they had no work email address, no desk space and no access to a photocopier.

The UCU has called on Ofsted to investigate the impact that casualised teaching has had on workers.

UCU head of further education Andrew Harden said: “This damning survey lifts the lid on the damage insecure work is doing to people’s health in our colleges and prisons.

“None of this is good for staff but it is also extremely damaging for students as teachers’ working conditions are their learning conditions.

“We want to see an end to the punitive zero-hours contracts and serious efforts to address the widespread misuse of casual contracts.

“It doesn’t have to be this way.

“UCU has worked with colleges to improve the security of employment for teaching staff and will work with any employer willing to engage with us on this issue. But it is no longer acceptable for employers to ignore the problem.”