A record 1.23 million people are now on zero-hour contracts in their main job, as reliance on insecure work continues to rise ahead of planned legal reforms.
The increase reflects a labour market where flexibility is still heavily weighted towards employers, with many workers facing unpredictable hours and income despite forthcoming changes under the Employment Rights Act.
An analysis by the Work Foundation at Lancaster University, a think tank focused on improving working lives, shows the number of people on zero-hour contracts has risen by 91,000 over the past year and by 181,000 since mid-2024.
The figures suggest that, despite political commitments to curb their use, employers have continued to rely on these arrangements across key sectors.
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Young workers and full-time earners driving growth
The rise has been driven largely by younger workers and those outside full-time education, pointing to structural challenges in how entry-level jobs are offered.
Workers aged 16 to 24 are more than five times as likely to be on zero-hour contracts as older age groups, with one in eight young workers affected.
At the same time, the data shows that most people on these contracts are not students. Around 943,000 are not in full-time education, while nearly a third rely on zero-hour roles as their main source of full-time income.
This suggests that what was once seen as a flexible option for students or those with caring responsibilities is now a core part of the labour market for many. Women are also slightly more likely to be affected, accounting for 54 percent of those on zero-hour contracts.
Employers face growing uncertainty ahead of reforms
Planned changes under the Employment Rights Act are expected to introduce new rights for workers, including guaranteed hours after a reference period, compensation for late shift cancellations and greater notice of working patterns.
But with reforms not expected until 2027, employers are facing a period of uncertainty as they wait for further detail on how the rules will operate in practice.
Liz Stevens, a professional support lawyer in the employment team at Birketts, a UK law firm advising businesses on employment law, told said employers still lacked clarity on how the changes would be implemented.
“The main issue for employers at the moment is that we are all still very much in the dark about how these new provisions will work in practice,” she told HRreview.
She said a consultation was expected to provide more detail, which would help organisations prepare. “We really need to see the government’s detailed proposals, so employers can start to plan how to embed new rights in their HR processes.”
Workforce audits and compliance in focus
Employers are being advised to begin preparing for the changes despite the lack of full detail, particularly by reviewing how zero-hour contracts are currently used.
Stevens said organisations should assess the scale and structure of their use of these contracts to understand potential exposure. “In the meantime, employers can get ahead by conducting an audit of their workforce to establish how many are currently working under zero, or low, hours contracts, how long they have been engaged and their average hours,” she told HRreview.
“This will allow employers to fully assess the impact of the changes as soon as we know the full details — such as the threshold for offering a guaranteed hours contract and the amount of notice required to cancel or change a shift — without incurring a penalty.”
While the reforms are aimed at improving security for workers, employers will still need to manage situations where flexibility remains important to parts of the workforce.
With the number of workers on zero-hour contracts continuing to rise, the data suggests pressure is building on both policymakers and employers to address long-standing concerns around job security and predictability.
