Insecure and low-paid jobs are costing the taxpayer billions every year, a union has warned, calling for the government to bring forward the long-awaited employment bill in the Queen’s speech tomorrow.
A report from the TUC has estimated that the Treasury would be 10bn a year better off – through higher tax and National Insurance payments and lower welfare spending – if the lowest earning self-employed workers and zero-hour contract employees were on traditional contracts.
The analysis of tax and earnings data, compiled by Landman Economics for the TUC, found that the lowest two quintiles of self-employed workers alone were contributing 9.7bn a year less than if they were employed.
Similarly, it estimated that employees on zero-hours contracts were costing the Treasury 614m a year through lost tax revenues and higher welfare costs.
The report says the total being lost to the Treasury from low-paid, precarious working is more than 192m a week, and warned that a 1 per cent rise in insecure work as a proportion of the wider UK workforce could see tax receipts drop by another 1bn annually.
The TUC has called on the government to bring forward its employment bill in tomorrow’s (10 May) Queen’s Speech to ensure that all workers have the same rights as employees.
Get more HR and employment law news like this delivered straight to your inbox every day – sign up to People Management...
As actor Kim Soo-hyun has been cleared of false allegations and resumed his activities, he has taken legal action against trolls who continue to spread false information about the actor and engage...