Employment: Zero-hour Contracts

Lord Christopher Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd October 2013 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

First, I should alert the noble Baroness to the fact that there is a recovery going on. Indeed, the employment rate was 71.7% and the unemployment rate was 7.7%, so progress is definitely being made, but there is more work to do. In terms of the contracts in Wales to which the noble Baroness referred, again, this is one of the issues we will be looking at as part of the consultation. It is not a good thing if contracts are entered into with both parties being unhappy with the contract.

[Lord Christopher (Lab)]

My Lords, there is an issue that goes beyond that of zero hours. It was revealed today that the Revenue is investigating around 120 care homes and care-worker firms where the contract is not really one of zero hours—although that is technically what they are calling it—but zero minutes. They are not paying the full basic wage or for travelling time. The implication there goes beyond the issue of zero hours, which I think is disgraceful; there are also the possible consequences in care firms if they go out of business.

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

The noble Lord raises an important point; we are aware that low pay is an issue for workers in the care sector. HMRC, which enforces the minimum wage on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, has been actively conducting enforcement activity in this area. Some investigations are very much ongoing and HMRC has identified relatively high levels of non-compliance, particularly with the national minimum wage. A full project evaluation is being carried out by HMRC and will be completed later this year.