FOUR-and-a-half-million people in England and Wales are in insecure work, reveals new analysis by Citizens Advice.
The national charity says insecure work – where people don’t have regular hours or predictable shifts – means many find it impossible to manage their budgets or plan for the future. The new figures reveal over 2.3m people are working variable shift patterns, with an additional 1.1m on temporary contracts and further 800,000 are on either zero hour or agency contracts.
Survey findings in a new Citizens Advice briefing published yesterday also show that people rate a steady, reliable income (92%) as just as important as the level of take-home pay (93%) when they are looking for work. Opportunities in terms of experience (84%), being passionate about the role (82%) and progression at work (74%) and are considered less of a priority.
‘The importance of income security’ also reveals that employers have more to gain from their staff if people have a secure income – 8 in 10 (83%) people in work say a steady job with regular pay increases productivity and almost 9 in 10 (86%) report it increases their loyalty towards employers.
Citizens Advice warns that the importance of a stable job and secure income is at risk of being overshadowed by a single focus on income level. It says recent changes to boost working people’s income – such as the introduction of the National Living Wage and raising the personal tax allowance threshold – are welcome but urgently need to be complemented by efforts to improve people’s security at work.
Previous research with staff and volunteers from across the Citizens Advice network found 83% of people with fluctuating work patterns seeking the charities’ help were struggling with debt and 87% faced delays or problems with in-work benefits such as work tax credits and housing benefit.
Kate, 22, who came to Citizens Advice for help, said: ‘I worked anything from 12-50 hours each week. Not having set hours was really difficult as some weeks I did not have enough money to cover my bills or rent. I never knew how much money I would have so I could never budget or plan ahead.’
