James Johnson-Flint, Director of Zero Hours Justice, said: “Zero Hours Justice was founded to campaign against the use of zero hours contracts and the insecurity they bring in terms of hours and pay. By demonstrating our commitment to pay the Living Wage, we are putting our money where are mouth is and making sure our own staff are paid fairly.”
 
Katherine Chapman, Director, Living Wage Foundation said: “We’re delighted that Zero Hours Justice has joined the movement of over 6,000 responsible employers across the UK who voluntarily commit to go further than the government minimum to make sure all their staff earn enough to live on.
 
“They join thousands of small businesses, as well as household names such as Burberry, Barclays, Chelsea and Everton Football Clubs, Lush, and many more. These businesses recognise that paying the real Living Wage is the mark of a responsible employer and they, like Zero Hours Justice, believe that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay. "

Zero Hours Justice has been contacted by a PhD student at Cardiff University carrying out research into the aspirations of people in precarious work, including those on zero hours contracts and casual workers.

It is fair that the government should pay people who are unable to work because they are being compelled to self-isolate after being contacted by NHS Test and Trace.

​However, the support payment of £500 may not be enough to cover the pay of those on zero hours contracts for the two weeks of self-isolation.

The support payment appears relatively generous for zero hours contract workers who usually work a below average number of hours. But, for those zero hours contract workers who usually work an above-average number of hours may see a shortfall.

Furthermore, the nature of zero hours contract means that the number of hours changes. If zero hours contract worker is forced to self-isolate at a time when they would usually work an above-average number of hours, you may find yourself at a disadvantage.

The support payment is only available to those who have been contacted by NHS Test and Trace and told to self-isolate. But, given the reported backlog of tests, a zero hours contract worker may find themselves in the position that they are showing symptoms of Covid-19, or is living with someone who is showing symptoms, but have not been able to get tested or they have not received a test result. If they do the right thing and follow previous government guidance to self-isolate anyway, they would not be able to claim the support payment. They may only receive statutory sick pay of £95.85 per week, assuming you are even eligible for that.

At the moment, none of the 12% of zero hours contract workers who live in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland would be eligible for the support payment.

But for zero hours staff who neither employed nor self-employed, because they are seen as casual workers, it is not clear whether they would be able to claim the payment for agreed shifts that are lost as a result of enforced self-isolation.

Zero Hour Justice has formed a co-marketing partnership with London-based Wellspring Theatre Company relating to its forthcoming play "Hand to Mouth".

The play, a psychological thriller and black comedy written by Joe Kelly, is about the difficulties faced by those engaged in insecure zero hours contracts. It is partly based on conversations between Kelly and clients of Zero Hours Justice, who approached us for help in dealing with unfair treatment.   

Kelly said: "The idea for Hand to Mouth was conceived in the early weeks of lockdown when thousands of people working on Zero Hour Contracts were plunged into a state of deep anxiety and uncertainty. The play explores a circumstance in which two people - who are underpaid and overworked - are hired by mysterious employers who seem happy to exploit them and put them in harm's way. Using this idea as a springboard, we are aiming to create a tense thriller that explores a range of themes, including the fight for care and compassion amongst Britain's workers. Our interviews with the clients of Zero Hours Justice have been invaluable in alerting us to the scale of this issue."

James Johnson-Flint, Director of Zero Hours Justice, said: "It is great that Wellspring Theatre Company and Joe Kelly are developing this play about the plight of zero hours contract workers. We hope that, as well as entertain, it will inform audiences of the precarious nature of these type of contracts and persuade them that such contracts should be banned."

Zero Hours Justice was launched in January 2020 by a coalition of concerned citizens to:

• raise awareness of the stress and misery caused by zero hours contracts;
• offer legal help to zero hours contract workers;
• change the law through strategic litigation;
• name and shame employers who mistreat zero hours contract staff.  

 
It is led by Ian Hodson, who is also president of the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union, and founded and funded by Julian Richer, the founder of Richer Sounds and author of “The Ethical Capitalist”. 
 
For more information about "Hands to Mouth" and Wellspring Theatre Company, see www.wellspringtheatre.co.uk.

This year more than ever before, business and the public have shown a widespread appreciation for keyworkers on the frontline in the battle against Covid-19. This has been most evident of all through the weekly public clapping events, thank you posters and special offers.

Yet, this appreciation sadly does not appear to have been reflected in any improvement in the precarious working conditions of many key workers. Instead, shockingly, it appears to have worsened.

​According to the latest employment data from the Office for National Statistics, the number of people on zero hours contracts during the lockdown period April to June 2020 smashed the one million barrier. In just one year, we have seen an enormous 17% increase, from 896,000 in April to June 2019 to 1,052,000 this year.

This dramatic increase in the use of zero hours contracts by employers is powered in large part by industry sectors most likely to employ key workers, punishing precisely those who have kept the country going in its time of need.

As food retailers, takeaways and online delivery kept society and the economy going, the wholesale and retail sector and accommodation and food sector saw a combined rise of 53% in the number of zero hours contracts, from 297,000 in April to June 2019 to 311,000 this year. This is also an increase of 42% from December 2019,

At the same time, as doctors, nurses and other health and social care workers were putting themselves at risk in battling Covid-19 and looking after the vulnerable, the health and social care sector saw the number of zero hours contracts go up by 35%, from 153,000 in April to June 2019 to 198,000 this year.
The education and transport sectors have also seen large increases, of 21% and 19% respectively, in the number of zero hours contract workers, compared to last year.

In terms of particular occupations, the largest increase in zero hours contracts has been seen by skilled trade occupations (46%), process, plant and machine operatives (28%) and  sales and customer services occupations (16%) and caring, leisure and other service occupations (10%).

Help us campaign against this shocking trend towards precarious employment, by telling us your story. Zero Hours Justice is actively working to lobby businesses, public sector organisations and others to stop the inappropriate use of zero hours contracts and make employers, government and the public aware how much harm they cause to so many, in today’s society.

Campaign group Zero Hours Justice calls on Grey Court School, the Richmond academy, to properly pay its invigilators for the work cancelled due to Covid-19.
 
Despite the unprecedented support from the government to help employers pay staff while closed, invigilators have been one of the groups that have fallen through the cracks.
 
Grey Court School, which is part of multi-academy trust Every Child Every Day, has declined to furlough any of its 20 invigilators on 80% pay. Instead, it made a “gesture” offer of 35% of the pay that invigilators would have received.
 
When challenged on the level of their offer, they then offered a further 35% as a loan that
would be paid back through deductions of 10% from future pay.
 
Pravin Jeyaraj, Communications Officer for Zero Hours Justice, said: “Thirty-five percent may sound like a lot for someone on a professional wage such as a teacher or headmaster. But, for a zero hours contract or casual worker on the London Living Wage, 35% is a paltry amount that for makes it impossible to live. It is particularly galling for those invigilators represented by us that, had Grey Court School furloughed them, they would have received 80% of their pay.
 
“The offer of a loan that, due to the nature of invigilation, would end up being paid back over three years was adding insult to injury.”
 
Grey Court School’s excuse for not paying invigilators fairly was that they had lost income from bookings of their premises that could not take place because of Covid-19. But this was precisely the situation that the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme was meant to address.
 
All 20 invigilators wished to remain anonymous out of fear that going public might affect their chances of future work.
 
One invigilator, A, said: “I’ve been employed as an exams invigilator at Grey Court since 2008 and I’m really disappointed with the salary proposal.”
 
Another invigilator, B, said: “How can the budget be exhausted when the exams have been cancelled and the invigilators (including myself) have not been paid? If anything, the budget is untouched and fully available to do what it was intended to do, which is meet the cost of paying invigilators.”
 
A third invigilator, C, said: “Who can afford to take a 65% cut in salary? What I would normally receive for working virtually full-time through the exams season is a significant part of my annual income.”
 
A fourth invigilator, D, said: “I tried to explain to my employer that the Government schemes and guidance has been put in place to enable them to support their staff during this difficult period. His cold hearted response was to offer me a 35% loan. I was so shocked!”
 
A fifth invigilator, E, said: “It seems that invigilators across the country are not really respected by schools. My school informed me, pretty much, that I was lucky to receive any offer of payment at all.”
 
There is no obligation for employers to pay staff for cancelled shifts, which is a big problem for all zero hours contracts staff. However, in July 2019, the Department for Business, Energy and Industry consulted on various proposals that would benefit flexible workers, including compensation where shifts are cancelled at short notice. The proposals were proposed by the Low Pay Commission.
 
Zero Hours Justice was launched in January 2020 by a coalition of concerned citizens to:

• raise awareness of the stress and misery caused by zero hours contracts;
• offer legal help to zero hours contract workers;
• change the law through strategic litigation;
• name and shame employers who mistreat zero hours contract staff.  

 
It is led by Ian Hodson, who is also president of the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union, and founded and funded by Julian Richer, the founder of Richer Sounds and author of “The Ethical Capitalist”. 

Last year, Julian Richer, the founder and funder of Zero Hours Justice, was recognised for his Outstanding Contribution to Retail at the 2019 Retail Week Awards.

In this year's UK Retail 100 List, produced by industry magazine Retail Week, for continuing to push the importance of ethical business practices.

After handing over control of his business, Richer Sounds, to a workers' ownership trust, he launched Zero Hours Justice, which provides information and advice to zero hours contract works and campaigns to stop employers from imposing unilateral zero hours contracts on its workers.

In the UK Retail 100 List report, Zero Hours Justice is described as "the latest initiative from a retail leader who has consistently argued that treating people well sits at the heart of business success, and whose influence has been brought to bear on other retailers, including Marks & Spencer where he [Richer] is an advisor".

The advert was a response to the number of enquiries we have received from zero hours contract workers, who found themselves without work and without pay, because the coronavirus lockdown meant employers were unable to offer certain services.

The government guidance on its Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is clear: employees with variable payment, including zero hours staff, are eligible to be furloughed. We completely understand that some private sector employers may be put in financial difficulty, because they still have to find the money to pay 80% of staff wages and then claim it back.

Nevertheless, at least employers can claim it back - the only option for zero hours contract staff not receiving furlough pay is to claim Universal Credit, but why should they have to resort to this?

But we also find it completely unacceptable that some public sector employers, including local authorities and NHS trusts, are neither offering work to zero hours contract staff nor furloughing them. We believe that this is due to the government guidance, which does not prevent public sector employers from using the Job Retention Scheme but clearly seeks to discourage them from doing so. 

You can download a copy of our advert in The Guardian below:

By Peter Stefanovic

​For those of the million on breadline zero hours contracts, the future is now more uncertain than ever despite the government’s plan to pay 80% of wages for employees out of work during the coronavirus pandemic.   

The UK Government's Coronavirus job retention scheme as presently constituted leaves many workers on zero hours contracts out in the cold.

In theory it should be simple. The Chancellor says the scheme will cover everybody who is paid via PAYE  through a company, with the state reimbursing the employer 80% of your salary up to a maximum of £2500/month. The problem is many zero-hours contract workers are not on PAYE, so won’t be eligible for the scheme and even worse the scheme only applies if you earn more than £118/week and where companies decide to take it up.  Over the past week many  zero hours contract workers have simply had their hours reduced to little or nothing.

Even if they fall within the scheme what good is eighty percent of a poverty wage which is what many workers on zero contracts were getting in the first place?
 
Its easy to forget in the present crisis that whilst employment may have been at a new high before the pandemic hit, the number of people who had a job but lived in poverty had just risen for the third year in a row.  The Joseph Rowntree Foundation found 56% of people living in poverty had a job!  Even before this pandemic, many zero hours contract workers were living hand to mouth.  How has this suddenly been forgotten?  Eighty percent of a poverty wage isn’t going feed  families when they were barely surviving on the wage they got.  

If an employer can't be bothered to take the Coronavirus job retention scheme up or refuses to because of the cash flow burden it places on a company, the zero hours contract worker can do little more than apply for universal credit.  Even if they can access UC quickly,  which is unlikely given more than half a million people have  applied for for it in the last nine days alone, how are they supposed to pay their bills and feed their families on £94 a week!  Even Health Secretary Matt Hancock says he couldn’t live on it!

The reality for many of the country's million zero hours contract workers is that for all the good Government has done for others, the reality is that it has yet again left them at best with scraps on the table.

It’s simply not right, it’s not fair and it certainly isn’t just!

DO YOU HAVE A STORY TO TELL ABOUT HOW COVID-19 HAS AFFECTED YOU ADVERSELY AS A ZERO HOURS WORKER?  LET US KNOW - MAYBE WE CAN HELP.  Click here

Zero Hours Justice welcomes the Government's plan to pay 80% of the salary of retained non-working employees of UK businesses suffering as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, up to £2500.

But we are extremely concerned about the holes in this package of help and lack of clarity, especially for the most vulnerable on zero hours contracts.

Two days after the announcement, it is still unclear how zero hours workers will be covered. Those sectors, such as food and hospitality, that have been hardest hit - with sales now at zero many have already taken action to lay such workers off.
​
​According to the latest employment figures, the food and hospitality sector has the biggest proportion of its workers who are on zero hours contracts.

On Friday 20th March, Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced the setting up of the Coronovirus Jobs Retention Scheme (CJRS), which will provide a grant to any employer "to cover most of the wages of people who are not working but are furloughed and kept on payroll, rather than being laid off."

In other words, anyone who is asked to stop working - but is not laid off or made redundant - because of the coronavirus pandemic - will still be paid 80% of their salary up to £2500, with employers having the option to top up the remaining 20%.  There was however no specific mention in the Chancellor's speech of how this affects the around one million workers on zero hours contracts. However, in media questions that followed, he did say that zero hours contract workers will be protected too, as long as they are paid via PAYE, although how calculation is precisely made is not clear, albeit there was suggestion that if regular hours had been worked previously those would be applied. We are concerned that where workers have irregular hours, because of the very nature of the precarious employment so many are forced to accept, this may affect what they receive adversely, if they are lucky to be retained.

Where an employer chooses not apply to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, zero hours contract workers can apply for Universal Credit. The Universal Credit standard allowance is being increased by £1,000 a year, for the next 12 months. In addition, £1bn is being added to the Universal Credit budget, so that the Local Housing Allowance will cover at least 30% of market rents in the area. Improvements on where we were last week, yes, but still a stressful and financially precarious position so many will be in.

​Is this enough??  We fear not and the days ahead will show just how much hardship those on zero hours contracts are likely to have to endure, due to no fault of their own.