Reblogged from Kate Belgrave:
This post lists the results of an FOI I recently sent to councils to get a
rough idea of how many people councils employed on zero hours contracts or zero
hours-type working arrangements and how many councils were using the work
programme.
When I
was writing several years ago about workfare in the US, I found that Rudy
Guiliani had replaced paid
and unionised public sector workers with people on New York’s workfare programme
to cut wage budgets. It’s worth keeping an eye on trends here as large
numbers of paid staff are cut from the public sector. I’m also interested in the
number of casual staff that councils use.
The numbers in this post are basic and I post them as a rough guide. Other
people may want to use them as a starting-point for asking for more questions
about employment arrangements at their local authorities and in different
services provided by their authorities. It’s definitely interesting to note the
sorts of jobs that people must work on zero hour terms and/or as casual workers.
This is a complex area: councils outsource a lot of services and workers, and
employ a variety of people, including full-time employees, part-time permanent
staff, short and long term contractors, agency staff (some of whom stay for
significant periods) and a lot of casual staff (people who work when required).
Some arrangements for casual staff aren’t really too different from zero hours
working, but you’ll see councils below arguing that the difference is
substantial because people working on casual arrangements aren’t on call as such
and are free to pursue other work. In fact, there’s plenty of room for
unscrupulous employer behaviour in both and there’s plenty of that around.
I do think it’s worth making the point that there are many working
arrangements which are extremely detrimental to workers and can be as
problematic and appalling for people as zero hours employment (and there
certainly are appalling cases of that). Employers have a lot of blunt
instruments at their disposal and they are using them at the moment. That’s
one of the reasons why people are taking strike action at workplaces all over
the country.
I’ve
written a lot, for example, about careworkers whose wages and leave
allowances, etc, were smashed when their jobs were outsourced to the private
sector (that, as is often the case, was at least in part a story about the
short-termism of TUPE and the ease with which employers are able to
circumnavigate it).
I’ve
also written recently about housing and residential supporter workers who
will lose as much as £8k a year as their employers drive their wages to a market
minimum. Their problem is that their organisations are competing for contracts
in a cutthroat funding environment and wages and conditions aren’t protected
during the tender process. (In one case, the problem also was that their senior
managers were rewarding themselves handsomely while expecting staff to take pay
cuts). Then there other problems: employers
not paying carers for travel time between jobs for example, or outsourced
workers not being paid agreed rates, or not being paid at all in some cases
(people in cleaning work used to come into our union branch a lot for help with
that).
People in these situations aren’t always on zero hours contracts – many are
full-time or part-time permanent staff – but their incomes are still very
tenuous and becoming more so, as incomes do in an employer’s market and when
union membership is low (numbers
are up, but still well below peak years). These people are being hung out to
dry by unscrupulous bosses who are hellbent on driving down wages and returning
maximum profits to shareholders and boards.
There’s an awful lot going on here – in addition to employer exploitation of
people who are on zero hours arrangements – that Labour and unions should commit
to targeting if they are really going to do anything. I have serious doubts. I
suppose I need not mention that I saw a fair bit of outsourcing and consequent
wage cuts and destruction of conditions on Labour’s watch back in the day.
Unscrupulous employers who are looking to cut wages and bully a workforce have a
lot of tools they can use and will
have even more as this government slaughters employee rights.
Lot of people on zero hours, though, as you’ll see from the list.
Anyway – ten to start. More to upload as this will take a while
(update – more than ten now):
Barking and Dagenham:
Zero hours:
504 people on zero hours contracts working in:
Adult & Community Services 231, Chief Executive’s 137, Children & Young
People 114, Finance & Resources, 12, Housing & Environment 10
Bedford:
Zero hours:
54 people, employed in Adult and Community
Services and Children’s Services
Work programme:
6 people in Adult & Community
Services. Provider: The former Sheltered Placement Programme. The council says
it “also employed a significant number of individuals on the Future Job Fund
Programme when that was running.”
Blackpool:
Zero hours/casuals:
315 “casuals” who are employed on an “as
and when needed” basis. This figure does not include Schools
These people work in Adult Services, Childrens Services,,Built Environment,
Democratic Services, Human Resources, Communication and Engagement, Leisure
& Operational
Work programme:
“We are currently delivering the Work
Programme under subcontract to A4e. None of our customers are on placement
within Blackpool Council. However, there are 2 other Work Programme providers
locally, A4e and Inspire2Independence. It is possible that they may have
contacted departments directly and agreed to place their customers
into unpaid work placements.”
Brighton and Hove:
Says the council:
“No individual within Brighton & Hove City Council is considered to be
employed on a zero-hours contract. However the council does have a wide variety
of casual workers who work hours on an ad hoc basis across service areas where
additional capacity or cover is needed for seasonal work or staff absence. There
is no ‘mutuality of obligation’ with casual workers and consequently there is no
expectation that the council would offer work or that individuals would accept
it if work were offered.
Consequently, there is no ongoing contractual relationship. If we used zero
hours contracts, there would be an on-going contractual relationship with these
individuals even when they are not working.
However, in reality there is no real difference between the two and the terms
“zero hours” and “casual” are used interchangeably in employment cases in
tribunals. In view of this, we are providing you with information relating to
casual workers who undertook work for the council during the three month period,
May to July 2013.”
During this period, 1254 casual workers were engaged. This figure excludes
casual workers who may have been engaged by schools.
The demand for casuals to perform various roles fluctuates but the main areas
are:
Care (‘Care Crew’ is a bank of casual workers) (this intriugues
me – what conditions do these people work in I
wonder).
Administration (‘Admin All Areas’ is a bank of casual
workers)
Brighton Centre & Royal Pavilion – security and setting up of
events/shows
Contact Supervisors – they provide supervision for visits
between children and parents
Libraries
Hostels & Supported
Accommodation
Electoral Services – electoral roll, poll clerks
etc
Seafront lifeguards
Cambridgeshire:
Zero hours:
“at 31 March 2013, we had 1,138 people on a zero hour
contract.”
Most of our zero hour workers are in social care carrying out roles such as
youth support work, school crossing workers, support workers for older people
and residential/night care support. Many also work in roles relating to teaching
or training, eg teaching assistants, qualification assessors or supply teachers.
Other types of staff on zero hours contracts include catering assistants,
caretakers and cleaners, registration officers, and admin/general
assistants.
Cheshire West and Chester:
Zero hours:
28 people – 11 in Children’s Services, 3 in
Growth and Prosperity, 13 in Localities and 1 person in Strategic
Commissioning.
Update 16 September: a contributor observed in the comments
on the FE post that this press article said 200 people at this council
were on zero hours contracts. So I’m adding that.
Derby:
Zero hours:
In July 2013, the authority paid 564 workers on
zero hour contracts, working in Adults Health & Housing, Chief Executives,
Children & Young People’s Services, Neighbourhoods, Resources
Devon:
Zero hours:
73 people who “are a mixture of intervention
workers, support workers, porters & care assistants.”
Doncaster:
Zero hours:
Says the council: “Doncaster Council does engage
staff on contracts that do not guarantee a minimum quantity of work to the
individual. These individuals apply to be placed on a relief/casual register.
Please note that when work is offered to any of these individuals they are not
compelled to accept it.”
300 people are engaged on this basis, predominantly in Cleaning, Caretaking,
Transport, Libraries and Care.
Essex:
Zero hours:
From the council: “1,764 zero hours ‘as and when
staff’ employed by ECC (as of 29 July 2013). ‘Zero based hours’ employees may
work across all departments in ECC. Casual, zero based employees are normally
sessional workers and ad hoc employees. This would include sessional tutors,
casual bar employees, models for life classes, ad hoc seasonal staff (country
parks), peak relief employees, registration/exam invigilators, instructors and
learning support assistants.”
More details of job roles here (this list has included roles over the last
few years like Administrative Assistant, Administrative Co-ordinator,
Administrative/Clerical Assistant,
Adult Social Care Social Worker, Advanced
Practitioner, Answers Direct Assistant,
Answers Direct Officer, Archive
Assistant, Area & TASCC Youth Worker,
Area Youth Worker TYD):
http://webapps1.essexcc.gov.uk/FOIdotNET/view_doc.aspx?DocID=2044
Gateshead:
The council says that the numbers in this response from the council
includes:
“a number of casual employees who are part of the council’s long-standing
approach to resourcing one-off events, seasonal work, and absence and emergency
cover. Some casual employees work for the council infrequently and have no
obligation to accept work offered and the council is under no obligation to
supply work. If they work for us more than once, each period worked is treated
as a separate period of employment.
Others work on a more frequent basis but not enough to have an established
pattern of work and are classed as zero hours casuals. They now have now been
given continuous service recognised w.e.f. 1 June 2013, entitling them access to
additional employee benefits, including the pension scheme.
Other employees who were previously engaged on casual contracts, but who were
in fact working quite regularly, have been moved from their casual status and
appointed to substantive posts on the establishment. As a result, the number of
employees on zero hours contracts has reduced recently.”
So – zero hours/casual:1291 as at 6 September 2013
Working in: Access & Inclusion, for Adult Care providers, Children
&Young People Service, Catering & Cleaning, Schools, Children and
Families and Young Offenders, Communities & Neighbourhoods, Facilities
Management, Libraries & Arts, Legal and Corporate Services, Raising
Achievement, Libraries, Arts and Culture Register, Sport & Leisure,
Transport Services/Strategy.
Gloucestershire:
Zero hours:
180 people: Celebrant/Registration Officers,
Library Assistants, in Social Care, as Cycling Instructors, various other roles
(not specified by the council).
Work programme:
The council says that it employs “fewer than
5 individuals through this programme” and that it has “come to the decision that
we cannot give you this information broken down any further. Due to the small
numbers involved, this information is personal data and it would identify
people.” The people on the work programme work in Enabling & Transition. The
council works with the work programme provider Prospects.
Halton:
Zero hours:
Two staff on zero hour contracts “who were
TUPE’d into the council in April 2013 and who are being offered permanent
contracts.”
Work programme:
Four people working at the council as
work programme placements. One person in Vehicle Maintenance and 3 working in
Meals on Wheels. Work programme providers: Ingeus and A4E
North Tyneside:
Zero hours:
328 (the council is at pains to say that
although these contracts are classified as “zero hours contracts”, “the nature
of these contracts are that individuals may be called upon as and when required,
without any mutuality of obligation on either party to either supply work or to
accept work.”
They work in: Cultural Services – Leisure , Schools, Learning and Skills –
Adult Learning Alliance, Law and Governance – Registrars, Electoral Services,
Environmental Services – Waste Management, Preventative and Safeguarding
Services – Early Help and Support, Youth Services
North Yorks:
Zero hours:
3590 staff on zero hours contracts who do not
have a substantive contract. 2923 are schools supply staff, predominantly
teachers, and 667 are non-schools.
Says the council: “the majority of zero hours contracts are supply teachers
used by schools as and when needed. Other than this group NYCC has always had a
number of staff on casual contracts but the majority are substantive employees
with a permanent set hour contract. The staff are mostly care staff and have an
additional “zero hour” contract to enabled them to work at a different location
as additional hours if they wish to…Many care staff, most who work part time,
also have a zero hours contract and some have 2 or 3 so they can work across
different teams on an “as and when” basis.”
Other staff on zero hours include: 50 drivers for social care services,
approx 100 catering and cleaning staff. Libraries, says the council, have zero
hours contracts “to cover staff absences” as does the registrars’ service.
So that’s: Schools – Teaching and Non-Teaching staff, Care Teams, Drivers for
Social Care Services, Catering, Cleaning, Library Staff, Registrars
Oldham:
Zero hours:
The council says it has people on zero hours contracts, but can’t give more
detail because “a review of zero hours contractual arrangements is being
undertaken.” The people on those contracts work in Lifelong Learning.
Work programme:
Yes. “12 people have been
on a traineeship or apprenticeship with Oldham Council. 8 which are still with
us and 4 have left.” 11 worked or work in environmental services and 1 with
First response.
The council’s work programme providers?
“we work with all the work programme
providers, including Avanta, Remploy, PSO, Seetec, Work Solutions and G4S.”
Rochdale
Zero hours:
Nobody employed on zero hours contracts, says the council. There are casual
workers working for the council who are only paid for the hours they work.
Rotheram:
Zero hours:
The council says that “In the 2012/13 tax year,
617 employees were paid on casual zero hour contracts to cover temporary short
term staffing shortages.” These workers, says the council, “are used to cover
temporary short term staff shortages predominantly in Catering, Cleaning, Social
Care and Libraries. ”
St Helens
Zero hours:
No workers on zero hour contracts.
There are “casual” or “relief” employees
who the council says work when:
“a. where service must be provided at set staffing levels and there is a need
to cover permanent staff short terms absences, eg residential care services,
leisure services, etc.
b. where the demand for the service fluctuates and there may be short term
needs to cover increased demand, eg youth work, play schemes, sports/leisure
facilities, adult learning services, etc.
The true definition of a zero-hours contract relates to the situation where a
worker is not guaranteed work but has to be available for work at certain times
and is obliged to work any hours that are offered. The council does not employ
anyone on this basis.
This contrasts with the situation where a worker is not guaranteed a set
number of hours, does not have to be available at specific times and can choose
whether or not they wish to accept any hours offered. In this situation
individuals are usually offered a place on a pool and there is no obligation on
either the council to offer hours of work, or for the workers to accept any
hours they are offered.
At St Helens we refer to this as casual or relief employment, but are aware
that such arrangements are often confused with zero-hours contracts.”
The council had the following casual employees:
June 2013 502 of 7189 employees (6.98%)
March 2013 574 of 7257 employees
(7.91%)
These figures include employees in schools.
Slough:
Says the council: “The council do not have any zero hours contracts. Where
staff are required to work on an as and when basis, they are issued with a
letter of engagement. The letter of engagement clearly sets out that there is
no mutual obligation, by both parties, to either offer work or undertake
work.”
It’s easy to see how employers can remove themselves from zero hours
criticism with this sort of arrangement. Such arrangements do not offer job
security, or secure hours, or even any hours but they are not technically zero
hours contracts.
Stockton on Tees:
Work programme:
6 people, all working in Cleansing. Work
programme providers: Job Centre Plus, DISC, Shaw Trust, Probation Service.
South Tyneside:
Zero hours:
Says the council: “As at 1/4/2013 there were
284 assignments with zero hour contracts, excluding schools.” They work in roles
across the council in each strategic group – Business and Area Management,
Children, Adults and Families, and Economic Regeneration.”
Southwark:
Zero hours:
Says the council: “We engage Tutors on zero
based contracts. As at 31 March 2013 the number of Tutors on zero based
contracts were 30; these were people who had been with the council for the whole
financial year. Tutors work for the adult education service that sits in our
environment & leisure department.”
Sunderland:
Zero hours:
Says the council:
“The council does not employ people on zero hours contracts, rather we have
Permanent Variable Hours (PVH) contracts in which the employee is a permanent
employee with all the same terms and conditions of employment and benefits as
everyone else, pro rata to the number of hours they actually work..”
My note: this sort of contract can be unstable: people don’t always know how
many hours they’ll have or when they’ll have them each week. I’ve certainly
spoken with library workers who went from knowing which shifts they’d have each
week to being told that they largely had to be available for any, including
evenings and weekends.
Work programme:
Sunderland council says: “yes we accommodate
people from the Mandatory Work Programme on work experience. We have
accommodated 26 people so far and continue to do so through a rolling
programme.”
These people work in Responsive Local Services. The council’s work programme
provider is Sunderland North Community Business Centre (SNCBC).
Telford and Wrekin:
Zero hours:
People employed on zero hours contracts/zero
hours working arrangements: 40
Job titles of people on zero hours contracts: Adult & Community Learning
Tutor, Classroom Music Teacher, Music Development Officer, Specialist Music
Instructor
Trafford:
Work programme:
2 people working in ETO – Groundforce.
Providers: Shaw Trust and United Response.
Warrington:
Zero hours:
People who work on zero hours
contracts: 202 contracts currently.
Areas in which contracts are/have been used include: Assistant Chief
Executive Directorate – Coroner Services, Registrars Of Births, Deaths,
Marriages,
Children & Young People Directorate – Access & Assets
(school
catering), Children in Care Division, Learning & Achievement
Division
(home tutors), Environment & Regeneration Directorate – Public
Protection Services,
Operations (which covers cleaning, street services, golf
club), Transportation Service, Neighbourhood & Community Services
Directorate – Adult Social Care Provision, Community Engagement Team,
Intermediate Care (residential care and home support), Sport & Physical
Activity Engagement
Windsor and Maidenhead
Zero hours:
The council says: “the borough does not have a
policy regarding the employment of people on zero hours contracts. However, we
do make use of casual staff to cover short term sickness, holiday periods or
times of increased demand. Other than schools, all directorates use casuals to a
greater or lesser extent, but in particular – leisure services, libraries, adult
social care, electoral registration, safeguarding and specialist.
We have around 1000 people who are registered with us as casual workers.”
Work programme:
44 people from July
2011-July 2012 and 53 from July 2012-July2013.
Working in: Customer Services, Business development, Grow our Own, Business
& Community Partnerships, Adult day services, Libraries, Information
management, Smarter working, ICT, Family Information Service, Ways into Work,
Contracts & billing, Deputy Chief Executive office, Guildhall Museum,
Windsor & Eton Town Centre Management, Planning support, Highways and
Engineering, Human Resources.”
Providers: A4E and Maximus.
