Consultation
Title
Edition No
Response to the public
consultation
on the proposal to collect data on
Zero Hours Contracts
April 2014
Office for National Statistics
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Response to the public consultation on the proposal to collect data on Zero Hours Contracts
Executive summary
This document reports on the responses to the proposal by the Office for National Statistics (ONS)
to collect data on zero hours contracts (ZHCs). The consultation ran from 23 October to 12
November 2013.
The consultation document can be found at
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/about-ons/get-involved/consultations/consultations/zero-hoursconsultation/index.html
Twenty-seven responses were received. The majority of responses welcomed the proposed data
collection to be run by a phone survey to businesses, but requested further data which can be best
supplied from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). ONS will develop the LFS questions to ensure that
the LFS provides a more rounded picture of ZHCs. There will inevitably remain differences
between information derived from individuals and that produced from the ZHC survey of
businesses. Subject to evaluation of the new business-based survey, ONS will consider the
possibility of including a question on ZHCs on its Business Register and Employment survey
(BRES), which would provide an annual benchmark with detailed data by region and a finer
industrial breakdown.
A report setting out the results of the February / March phone survey of businesses will be
published on 30 April 2014. To help users understand why business and individual-based
assessments of ZHCs are likely to differ, the report will also include additional analysis of existing
Labour Force Survey data covering the final quarter of 2013.
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Response to the public consultation on the proposal to collect data on Zero Hours Contracts
2. Introduction
This consultation related to a new exercise in data collection that the Office for National Statistics
(ONS) proposed to conduct into the area of zero-hours contracts (ZHCs). It arose from a
commitment made by ONS in a press release dated 22 August 2013:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/mro/news-release/ons-announces-additional-estimate-of-zero-hourscontracts/zhc0813.html
The ONS proposal outlined in the consultation was to initially conduct a pilot phone survey from an
achieved sample of around 300 businesses. It was planned the pilot survey would be conducted in
the second half of November.
If successful, it was provisionally planned that full-scale data collection would start in February
2014, also conducted by phone. This would be a much larger sample than the pilot – broadly
comparable to the several thousand employers surveyed in the regular Monthly Wages and
Salaries Survey (MWSS). No decision had yet been made on whether data collection for the
second quarter of 2014 onwards would take place.
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Response to the public consultation on the proposal to collect data on Zero Hours Contracts
3. The consultation process
The template for responses to the consultation exercise is shown in Annex 1.
The list of organisations responding to the consultation is shown in Annex 2.
The first question asked was as follows:
Do you support ONS’s proposal to collect initial data on zero hours contracts using the
draft questionnaire set out in Annex A of the consultation document?
Only two respondents definitely opposed the proposed data collection. One economic research
organisation said ONS is ‘placing quite a burden on employers’ and asks ‘Why are ZHCs so
important?’. One local authority said ‘If this data collection is a knee-jerk reaction to recent political
and media focus, I do not agree with it’.
Around four were neutral on the proposal. The remaining responses (the great majority) were in
favour of the new survey, but most respondents requested additional information which could only
be collected by an employee survey like the LFS.
If no, what changes do you think should be made?
A minor suggestion made was to suggest using central records to provide information on ZHCs in
the social care sector. Another was to allow for annualised contracts in the questionnaire; this
suggestion was adopted.
Information to be collected on the survey
Views were sought on the type of information that should be collected on ZHCs, as follows:
The data proposed should provide data on ZHC employment by companies classified by the
following categories. Please tick all boxes that you would find useful:
The following numbers of respondents confirmed they wanted the information proposed on the
questionnaire:
Broad industry group
Employment band
Public / private
15
14
13
Six respondents requested information on actual hours worked which was also included in the
original proposal.
The table below shows the extra information requested in response to the following question, with
the number of respondents mentioning each category:
The existing proposal aims to provide high-level estimates of zero-hours contracts
employment by category of company
What further information from ONS’s surveys would be useful to you?
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Response to the public consultation on the proposal to collect data on Zero Hours Contracts
Additional
Region
Age
Gender
Occupation
Attitudinal data
Turnover
Similar pattern each week
Pay rate
Ethnicity
Employment agencies
Exclusivity of contracts
LA / constituency level
Seasonal variations in employment
Uncertainty
Reasons for employers to use ZHCs
Length of time on ZHC
Educational level
Disability
Sub contractors
Benefits from ZHCs
What employment rights?
Number of jobs held per individual
11
10
10
8
5
4
4
4
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
A broad summary of the responses received was that they supported the proposed phone survey
but required more demographic data on individuals. The most mentioned additional categories
were region, age, gender and occupation. The phone survey would not be large enough to provide
accurate regional data, while information on age, gender, and occupation can only be provided by
employee surveys.
ONS will consider the possibility of including a question on ZHCs on its Business Register and
Employment Survey (BRES), which would provide an annual benchmark with detailed data by
region and a finer industrial breakdown.
ONS considers that the best source for demographic data on ZHCs is the Labour Force Survey
(LFS), which is the main ONS survey for data provided by employees. There has been speculation
that the number of employees on ZHCs has been under-recorded on LFS in the past. ONS will
review the wording of the LFS questionnaire in respect of ZHCs to ensure the ZHC figure produced
from the LFS is as comprehensive as possible.
The LFS is also likely to be a better source of information on employees' experience of zero hours
contracts in practice, such as their average weekly hours and whether they were working fewer
hours than usual in a given week. Surveys of businesses will give estimated numbers of such
contracts from the employer's perspective, but not how they are used in practice.
Certain potential users requested attitudinal data towards ZHCs. It is not possible to collect such
data from employers. The LFS can provide data on whether staff on ZHCs are looking for extended
hours. However, ONS considers that alternative sources are better placed to collect such
attitudinal data; adding further such questions to the LFS would incur expense and could reduce
quality by affecting the response rate.
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Response to the public consultation on the proposal to collect data on Zero Hours Contracts
Definitions of zero hours
One comment that has been made by other government departments is that there is no legal
definition of zero hours contracts. The Labour Force Survey asks for employees’ perceptions of
whether they are employed on zero hours contracts. It is very likely that employers and employees
will have different perspectives of whether they are employed on zero hours contracts.
The ONS December 2013 telephone pilot on zero hour contracts asked businesses “Does your
company/organisation employ people on contracts that do not guarantee a set number of hours
work (this could be weekly, fortnightly or monthly)?”, this is labelled the indirect question. If this is
answered “No” then a direct question is asked “Does your company/organisation employ any staff
on zero hours contracts?”, this is then followed by the HMRC definition of a zero hours contract
(see below), this being the direct question. ONS decided not to change these questions for the
February/March telephone pilot as the indirect question is consistent with the major recognised
definitions of zero hour contracts and is a question preferred by respondents.
Alternative names for a zero hours contract
There are many names/labels given to a zero hour contract, this in itself creates problems when
asking the question of whether a business uses a zero hour contract. Some terms used by
companies reporting to the December pilot survey follow:
The following definitions of Zero hours contracts are shown in the literature (with the most
important points underlined by ONS:
 “A zero hour contract generally is a contract where the employer does not guarantee to
provide the worker with work and will only pay the worker for those hours which are
actually worked” (HMRC)
 “...an employment contract in which the employer does not guarantee the individual any
work and the individual is not obliged to accept any work offered” (BIS consultation, 2013)
 “Zero hour contracts are where the individual is not guaranteed work and is paid only for
the actual work offered by the employer and carried out” (The Work Foundation, 2013)
 “a type of employment contract under which an employer is not required to offer an
employee any defined number of working hours and the employee is, in turn neither
guaranteed any set number of working hours nor obliged to take any offered” (Resolution
Foundation, 2013)
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Response to the public consultation on the proposal to collect data on Zero Hours Contracts

“ A zero-hours contract is an agreement between two parties that one may be asked to
perform work for the other, but there is no set minimum number of hours” (CIPD Labour
market outlook, 2013)
The common consistency between the above most widely accepted definitions of zero hours
contracts in the UK is the term of ‘not guaranteed’ (as can be seen above highlighted).
Feasibility – was the December 2013 pilot ONS question understood?
Before the pilot was conducted in December, Methodology Division of ONS contacted a small
selection of businesses by telephone to run a feasibility test. The aim of this was to ascertain how
easily a business could provide information on: zero hours contracts, who within the business
would be best to contact about this, and to see if the indirect question was understood.
Comments made when presented with the indirect question
“Yes, have lots of those”
“You mean like casual or zero hours”
“easy” to answer
“No, all our staff are on permanent contracts”
In January 2014 Methodology Division interviewed businesses with the aim of gathering context on
what zero hour contracts are and how they are used. When presented with the indirect question:
 the first respondent (a leisure centre) easily understood the question, “this is what our casual
contracts offer”. Respondent could not offer a better alternative.
 The second respondent (an insurance company) preferred the indirect question to a direct
question because “we don’t use the term zero hour contract in this business”
 The third respondent (a museum) could easily understand the question however the
organisation “doesn’t recognise them as contracts” as individuals are given a “letter of
requirement”
The contracts being supplied from the business survey might be termed ‘contracts with no
guaranteed hours’ as compared with those reported as ‘zero hours contracts’ by employees in the
Labour Force Survey. The report to be published at the end of April will consider the implications of
the various definitions of zero hours contracts in more detail.
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Response to the public consultation on the proposal to collect data on Zero Hours Contracts
Recommendations
The recommendations arising from the consultation exercise are:

Take on board the minor suggested improvements to the survey questionnaire

Carry out the pilot for November (now completed)

Utilise the experience of the pilot and carry out the main phone survey in February and
March (currently under way). If successful, present plans are to consider holding this survey
on a regular basis (possibly either quarterly or biannually) for the foreseeable future

Review the questions on ZHCs in the Labour Force Survey (LFS). This source will provide
much of the demographic data requested by users

ONS will consider the inclusion of a ZHC question on the annual BRES survey, which will
provide a regional breakdown and a finer industrial breakdown.

ONS does not plan to collect attitudinal data toward ZHCs, which was requested by certain
respondents.
A report setting out the results of the February / March phone survey, compared with the Labour
Force Survey results for October to December 2013, will be published on 30 April 2014. The report
will recognise the significant differences in the definitions of zero hours contracts used in the
various sources.
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Response to the public consultation on the proposal to collect data on Zero Hours Contracts
ANNEX A OF ORIGINAL CONSULTATION: DRAFT PHONE QUESTIONNAIRE FOR PILOT
Questionnaire
Notes/routing
Hello my name is ……., and I’m calling from the Office for National Statistics
Introduction
The Office for National Statistics has committed to extending current employment questions on its
business surveys in order to collect more detailed information on the type and number of
employment contracts used by employers. I would like to ask you a few short questions that should
take no more than a couple of minutes to answer.
1a. Would you be the correct person to
speak to me about this?
Yes go to 1c
Yes but inconvenient arrange a call back
No go to 1b
1b. Who would be the correct person to talk
to?
Contact given – contact & start with introduction
Don’t know: If need to investigate arrange to call
them back
If unable to provide a contact, probe the reasoning
behind this
Once most appropriate person identified repeat introduction
1c. How many staff does your
company/organisation employ in total
(estimates acceptable)?
- Does this figure include temporary
staff
-
If not included how many temporary staff are there,
if not sure ask for an estimate
Question 2 introduction
I would now like to ask you about the type of employment contracts you use. A standard
employment contract requires the employee to work a minimum set number of hours per week (for
instance 37 hours for full-time and less than 30 hours for part time employees).
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Response to the public consultation on the proposal to collect data on Zero Hours Contracts
In addition, some employers use employment contracts that do not guarantee to provide the
employee with any set hours and will only pay the employee for those hours which are actually
worked.
2. Does your company/organisation employ
people on contracts that do not guarantee a
set number of hours work? (this could be
weekly, fortnightly or monthly)
Yes – go to 3a
3a. How many of your employees are on
contracts that do not guarantee them work?
- Does this figure include those on
temporary contracts?
Answered – go to 3b
3b. How many of these employees worked in
the fortnight commencing 21 October 2013?
Go to Q4a
3c. Does your company/organisation employ
any staff that you haven’t already referred to
on zero-hour contracts?
Read ZHC definition
No – go to 3c
If not able to answer question, ask for an estimated
number, if not possible ask for them to estimate
proportion and record that this is estimated
Yes – go to 3a
No – go to 4a
4a. Does your company/organisation employ
people on contracts that guarantee
between one and seven hours work (this
could be weekly, fortnightly or monthly)?
Yes – go to 4b
No – Are any other type of employment contract
used other than a standard F/T or P/T employment
contract? Record what or if no
thank you and end interview
4b. How many people do you employ on
contracts that guarantee between one and
seven hours work (this could be weekly,
fortnightly or monthly)?
Answered go to Q5
If not able to answer question, ask for an estimated
number, if not possible ask for them to estimate
proportion and record that this is estimated
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Response to the public consultation on the proposal to collect data on Zero Hours Contracts
5. Thinking about those employees with
employment contracts that do not
guarantee a set number of hours work or
with less than seven hours work
guaranteed,
Do these contracts include any
obligations/restrictions around working for
other employers?
Thank you very much for your time today. Your responses have been most useful in expanding our
knowledge within this topic area.
Do you have any questions for me? (arrange a call back if unable to answer questions)
Goodbye
Zero-Hours Contracts Definition:
A zero-hour contract is a contract where the employer does not guarantee to provide the worker
with work and will only pay the worker for those hours which are actually worked.
While a zero-hour contract does not include a minimum hours work guarantee, it may include other
obligations, eg a retainer (such as a retained fire officer)
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Response to the public consultation on the proposal to collect data on Zero Hours Contracts
Annex 1: Questions set out in consultation exercise
1
Do you support ONS’s proposal to collect data on zero-hours contracts (ZHCs) using the
draft questionnaire set out in Annex A?
Yes / No
If no, what changes do you think should be made?
___________________________________________________________________
2
The data proposed should provide data on ZHC employment by companies classified by
the following categories. Please tick all boxes that you would find useful:
Industry
Public / private
Employment band
Please complete the line below if there is another category which would be useful to your work
___________________________________________________________________
3
The existing proposal aims to provide high-level estimates of zero-hours contracts
employment by category of company
What further information from ONS’s surveys would be useful to you?
i) from surveys directed to employers _____________________________________
ii) from surveys addressed to households
___________________________________________________________________
4
Please list any other comments you wish to make
___________________________________________________________________
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Response to the public consultation on the proposal to collect data on Zero Hours Contracts
Annex 2 – Organisations responding to the consultation
Care Inspectorate
Cheshire East Council (on behalf of three Cheshire LAs)
Confederation of British Industry (CBI)
Defence, Ministry of (MOD)
Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS)
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
EUROSTAT
Federation of Small Businesses (FSB)
GMB (UK's third largest trade union)
Greater London Authority (GLA)
Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC)
House of Commons Library
Institute for Employment Research, University of Warwick
Manchester City Council
Mexican Statistical Office
Public Health England (PHE)
Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers, National Union of (RMT)
Resolution Foundation
Somerset County Council
Trades Union Congress (TUC)
Unison
Unite
University and College Union (UCU)
University of Greenwich (Lloyd Miller – personal response)
Welsh Government
There were a further two responses which were asked to be treated as confidential
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