to ask whether anyone has had a positive experience of having a zero hour contract?

[ForgotThatIWasFine]

I have been offered a job on a zero hour contract, I'm a single parent who already has a job (zero hour contract would be a second job) and claims tax credits and housing benefit.

Everything I've ever read about zero hour contracts has been negative, however I now find myself in a position where I might well be on one of these contracts.

I'm worried about managing financially, potential messing about with tax credits etc.

Does anyone have any experience or advice? The employer has said there will always be shifts available (of course he would!), would I be naive to go along with this?

If there's always shift available, why wouldn't he just work out the minimum (eg between 10-20 hours) and offer a contract based on that, so 10 hours.

Tax credits are not built to deal with regular changes in circs in my experience.

I used to be on a zero hour contract and for nearly 4 years always had 38-45hour weeks. It was brilliant and flexible for my needs. However when another company took over it went down to 3 hours a week hence me finding another job.

So yea, I've had both good and bad experience of them!

He said this option would be best because I do fixed shifts at my first job and new job requires staff to do different shifts each week- I don't have the flexibility to do that so he suggested going down the zero hour route.

I want the job so I guess I want to believe it could work, I realise I'm possibly not being very realistic though.

I guess it depends on the employer and how honest they're being. I employed people on zero hours because in the industry we couldn't guarantee hours, it was impossible and entirely out with our control. However, we did it the 'right'way and gave people employment rights that many zero hours employers didnt bother with.

So I'd be asking when you'd find out your shifts and what the consequences are of you not picking them up, how much short term cancellation there is, how often you can turn a shift down without it going against you and how they're going to keep you around the number of hours and working pattern you need

I've had a few but in reality always had my agreed hours. It depends on the employer in my experience but mine have usually wanted to keep everyone's hours about the same each week as it's easier for everyone to be in a bit of a routine.

My sister had zero hour contract and progressed slowly but surely to a 37.5 hour permanent contract in a team leader role x

I've worked with a zero hour contract, we all had set shifts though. We have all just been issued with contracts and but gutted at lack of flexibility however will be good getting holiday pay.

I have a zero hours contract with the NHS and it means I can access all of their in house training for free, no matter how many hours I've done. I'm not In Receipt of any benefits though and I know how slowly those wheels turn... It might be a complete headache for you?

I had a zero hours contract working in care. It worked very well for me and I never had problems picking up the shifts that I wanted. It also meant that I could take time off for school holidays etc.

For tax credits I just averaged the shifts that I would be doing over the year and claimed that way. I guess it very much depends on the industry that you work in and if you are guaranteed the shifts.

I sort of had a positive experience, but only because my managers in that role were actually very reasonable and didn't mess us around cancelling at the last minute etc. I worked regular hours 9-5, the same as my colleagues with permanent contracts. The disadvantage of course is that I didn't get paid on bank holidays, if I was off sick or on annual leave. I can see how they might be good if you need flexibility but I was desperate for a secure full time contract so it wouldn't have worked for me for much longer.

I liked my zero hours contract. The freedom to say no thank you to shifts that didn't suit was great. But I had managers who were more than happy for me to do that. Didn't affect what shifts they offered me, and I said yes far more often than I said no. Down side - not being able to plan finances easily as some months I could have nearly £1000 going in and the next month nothing at all.

I did years and years ago before they were called zero hours contracts. It was a retail job and it suited me perfectly because I was trying to break into another area and it gave me the flexibility to work around irregular volunteer hours at another job. I worked anywhere from 12-30 hours a week and if a shift clashed, my manager gave it to someone else but I was never penalised to turning down a shift. If I had a quiet period, I could ask for more hours and they were usually pretty flexible about giving me more.

Yep, me. I only want 8-10 hours a week. They keep trying to give me more, I keep saying no thank you. If I want more money I can do more hours. Tis wonderful :) well - I wouldn't go quite that far...

Yes, but years ago when I was a student. I valued the flexibility, and it was over a decade ago so the labour market wasn't half as skewed against workers as it is now. Which meant I didn't have to take every shift offered for fear of not getting more. I think they're generally much better suited to people whose need for flexibility is greater than their need for regular income.

mine is a nightmare, took me on a zero hour contract but promised 36 hours, had 30 for a few weeks then as soon as they found out about pregnancy my hours dropped to about 10 which an unofficial source said was a sneaky way to reduce holiday i was owed.

dreading going back to work, just absolutely wont get the hours I need :(

I had a zero hours contract. It started off with maybe 2 or 3 half days a week. I was asked to come in more and more until I was offered a permanent job share role. I accepted and because the other person on the job share did not turn out to be as good as first thought, they let her go and gave me the job full time.

Yes I am a domiciliary care assistant and have a zero hours contract. It is working out just fine for me as there is always work available if I want it. Dh is also on a zero hours contract as a driver. He too is happy with his employment, and same as my work, there is plenty of work available. If that were not the case and we were worried about whether we would be offered enough shifts then it would be quite different. We sold our business last year and are both very happy with less responsibility - dcs are grown up and left home so less pressure there too. I am not sure that zero hours contracts are inherently bad - depends on the employer and whether they are taking advantage of employees or running their business efficiently.
Maybe 'exclusive' zero hours contracts are questionable if there isn't enough work available and you can't take on other work to supplement it.

I think they often promise you all these shifts but then they aren't available. My friend works on zero hours for a care agency and she has weeks where she only has one shift and some weeks none at all, despite the fact that she was promised at least 30 hours a week at her interview. She is struggling to make ends meet.

I think they are great if you are only on them to earn extra money, but not so good if you are relying on them completely for survival. They will be a huge headache with benefits. I was considering it not long ago and I did some research and the CAB don't recommend them for people on benefits.

It depends on the employer.
My ds (who is a student) works on a zero hour contract in a shop - loves the flexibility of it. For him it means he isn't tied to working all of every weekends, on those weekends he wants to be off elsewhere. Not just students though - all the staff like it because of the flexibility. Retail is notoriously bad for having to work long hours and never getting weekends off, but his employers use it really well and people can get time off when they want it and extra hours when they want them. There are people with carers responsibilities, people who want longer breaks from work, a chap who was semi-retired and wanted some work but not full time, people who want to work holiday times and people who don't want to work holiday times. They do the rotas 2 weeks ahead and then staff can still change with each other if they want to.

dc of a friend work for a national company that do catering at big events (think horse racing festivals or international sports fixtures) - they have a pool of employees, and send a message out by text saying ..who wants to work this day for these hours, and the first 300 {or however many they need} get the job for that day. Again, works for employers and employees, in that you get people that want the work in the week, others that want the work just at weekends, etc., and it means you don't have to grab a shift if you are looking after someone who is ill, or you are going out yourself or you've got an exam the next day or you are working in your other job!

I know thy get a lot of bad press, but there are a lot of positive things about them when the employer uses them well.

I had one, my first job after leaving college, way before they were called ZHCs. Regular hours, good hourly rate due to qualifications (in the days before minimum wage) and opportunity to take extra hours if offered. A

I had more disposable income back then than I do now

Yes, I have but it was quite a niche situation - I was going back after maternity leave and requested a ridiculous amount of flexibility so the zero hours was easiest as I could just do however much work suited me each week, including some from home. I had a very good relationship with my manager and was 99% sure that they were never going to ask me to do less work than I wanted to.

I ended up on a fixed contract but only because my employer wanted it rather than me, they were worried that I could leave or refuse work whenever I fancied!

The only downside was lack of holiday and sick pay (my hourly rate was upped to compensate for this, but if I had 2 weeks off the next pay cheque was painful!). I would say if you have a scrupulous employer there can be many benefits - unfortunately I guess it can be hard to know what they'll be like until you're actually working for them.

I work for a care provider and we have zero hour contacts. We pay a slightly higher rate and staff can pick and choose which shifts they work that are available. Staff that are more reliable would usually get first pick. TBH we have tried to move staff on contracted hours but many don't want to as they prefer the flexibility. A good manager should balance the rota to make sure shifts are available for all staff. Guvebit a go and see how you get on. If the job is in care, the industry is very short staffed so I would think it's highly lightly there will be plenty of shifts for you.

Zero hours suited me as a student and after I left uni and was looking for a permanent job.

I worked in one place though that promised me full time hours and to begin with it was great. Then a new manager came in and she was a bloody nightmare. She brought in loads of new staff (her family basically) and gave them all the hours and members of staff who had been there for years were not being given enough hours to cover their mortgages. It was horrible, people in tears every week because they weren't getting the regular hours they'd worked for years and years.

After the second Saturday in a row where she brought me in at 7am and sent me home after an hour because she said she had too many staff in I walked out and didn't go back.

I have been on them and have employed staff on them. It all depends on the employer, imo. I never had a manager that punished me for turning down work or tried to make me work more than I could or at times I couldn't. I have never done that to my employees either. I know some employers are awful and that's where the problems are. Depends on how much you trust the person employing you.