The Employment Rights Bill, currently moving through Parliament, would ban exploitative zero-hours contracts by ensuring workers receive a contract that reflects their regular hours. It would also give staff a right to compensation when shifts are cancelled, according to the TUC.

On the opening day of the TUC Congress in Brighton, the union published analysis showing four million people are in insecure work. The TUC defines insecure work as those on zero-hours contracts, agency, casual or seasonal roles (but not fixed-term contracts) and the low-paid self-employed who miss out on key protections. The report said insecure work increased by 800,000 between 2011 and 2024, and the share of the wider workforce rose from 10.7% to 11.7% in the same period.

Paul Nowak, the TUC general secretary, said: “This insecure work epidemic isn’t just holding back workers, it’s holding back our economy too. When workers don’t have security at work, they tend to earn less, and that means they spend less, too. The Tory experiment with low-paid, insecure work has been tested to destruction. That’s why the Employment Rights Bill is so badly needed.”