EXPLOITATIVE zero-hours contracts are “endemic,” the TUC has warned, as official data today revealed near record levels. 

There are currently 1.2 million people on zero-hour contracts — up 55,000 over the year — as employers are “addicted to one-sided flexibility,” the TUC said in its analysis of Office for National Statistics (ONS) data. 

The figure hit an all-time high of 1.23 million in December. 

The contracts, common in hospitality and retail, place employers under no obligation to provide a minimum number of hours.

Under Labour’s Employment Rights Act, the government has said it will grant workers guaranteed hours based on regular work patterns, reasonable notice for shift changes and compensation for short-notice cancellations. 

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “Exploitative zero-hours contracts are endemic in this country, with more than 1.2 million people stuck not knowing how much they’re going to earn each week. 

“That’s why the government must deliver on its promise of a right to guaranteed hours for everyone.

“Employers are addicted to this one-sided flexibility. But the vast majority of insecure workers have struggled to meet their basic living costs because they haven’t been offered enough hours — and one in three face a financial hit of at least £3,000 a year from cancelled shifts and incurred costs.”

The ONS data also found that the wider jobs market held steady in June, with employment up slightly to 75.1 per cent and unemployment down to 4.9 per cent. 

Redundancies fell by 20,000 to 106,000, though youth unemployment remained high at 14.6 per cent and job vacancies fell by 6,000 to 707,000. 

Real pay growth slowed to 0.7 per cent against CPI inflation, down from 1.4 per cent a year earlier, with private-sector real pay rising just 0.1 per cent.

“We need to get young people into work — but it isn’t good enough to push them from unemployment into rampant insecurity,” Mr Nowak said. 

“No young person benefits from a race to the bottom — they deserve good, secure employment like anyone else.

“It’s time for the government to double down on its plans to make work pay, expand the youth jobs guarantee, and stamp out exploitative zero-hours contracts once and for all.”