Long hours working is on the increase in the UK, reversing the slow but steady ten-year decline in people working more than 48 hours a week – according to a new TUC analysis published yesterday.
More than one in eight of the workforce now work more than 48 hours each week, with as many as one in six in London putting in 48 hours plus a week.
While the law protects people against an average working week of more than 48 hours unless they opt out of working time rules, the TUC says that a lack of enforcement means that bad employers know that this is one employment right that they can breach with little or no risk of any consequences.
Good employers have responded to concerns about the need for a greater work-life balance, but these figures show that a hard core of bad employers are taking no notice of either the law or calls from government, progressive employers and unions, says the TUC.
TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said, “There is undoubted abuse of the law, but employers know they can get away with it because it is rarely enforced. Neither the Health and Safety Executive nor local authorities who share responsibility for enforcement have the resources to implement the law. And the Government knows that employers can abuse the opt-out as ministers consulted on ways to close loopholes in 2004, but have yet to bring forward any concrete proposals for change. The current discussions on how best to protect vulnerable workers and enforce existing rights must include working time rights and closing the loopholes that make a voluntary opt-out a joke.”
ACM recently undertook a survey of members’ working hours and results will be published in the new year. However, initial findings suggest that the 48 hour week is being repeatedly flouted by FE colleges.
