Employment: Zero-hour Contracts

Lord Stoddart of Swindon Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd October 2013 Lords Chamber

[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.

[Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Ind Lab)]

Does the House of Lords employ any people on zero-hour contracts? If so, how many are they and in what grades?

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

The noble Lord raises some very specific questions. I can confirm that zero-hours contracts are a legitimate form of employment and they were introduced in both Hansard and the catering departments to replace existing casual contracts, so there is an improvement there. The zero-hours contracts, when compared to the previous contracts, give staff the same employment rights as those enjoyed by full-time staff.