“Previous Work Foundation analysis has found that 49% of insecure workers couldn’t personally pay an unexpected bill of £300 if it was due within the next seven days.
“Facing uncertainty both at home and at work can also take a serious toll on people’s health and wellbeing – we can’t ignore this at a time when the level of economic inactivity due to ill-health is reaching record levels.”
Maria, not her real name, has been working as a support worker for a homecare provider earning £11,985 a year for the 21 hours-a-week role.
She previously worked in a busy-family run restaurant on a zero-hour contract from November 2023 to March working a couple of a shifts a week
Maria, who moved from Portugal to the UK in 2019, left her role as there was too much heavy lifting and the role was not suitable to her during pregnancy and she is now on maternity leave.
She has been living in a privately rented shared house with six other people – including two couples, a woman and a dog, and a mother and six-year-old child – paying £650 a month. With fears over how she will afford her rent and her home’s suitability for a newborn, she has applied for social housing.
Maria receives support from universal credit to top up her wages and will receive statutory maternity pay and child benefit when the baby is born but is worried about the future.
“I don’t know how much I am going to receive every month. I really need to know, especially being on universal credit,” said Maria.
“To be honest everything is very insecure right now. I’m on maternity leave, I just put in the paperwork but I’ve no idea how much they are going to give me.
“While I was working I was able to pay my bills and I managed to arrange everything for the baby’s arrival so I have everything for the baby.
“It’s just the next few months when I’m still recovering. It’s how much it’s going to be and what I am entitled to. I am applying for everything at the moment.”
It’s a far cry from the lifestyle Maria had when she previously worked in a hotel and lived in subsidised staff accommodation.
“My life changed a lot and everything was a bit unexpected. I was living in a hotel, I had my car, my job at the hotel and the company closed and my life changed drastically and then I discovered I was pregnant,” added Maria.
“I never thought I would have a need to ask for help because I always had two jobs, was super independent, paid my bills, had a good lifestyle and all of a sudden everything changed and now I’m asking for help. It’s been difficult.
“I’m not the only one in this situation. And it’s totally unfair. I believe we have enough for everybody and I don’t think things are being managed properly.”
Maria is far from alone in being trapped in insecurity.
Data suggests workers from Black and Asian backgrounds and millennials are more likely to face the ‘double jeopardy’ of being in severely insecure work whilst living in the private rented sector.
Black and Asian workers are 2.2 more likely to rely on the private rented sector for housing than white workers in severely insecure jobs.
Meanwhile, one in three millennials aged between 25 and 34 work in insecure roles and live in private rented accommodation while that’s also the case for a quarter of workers aged 35 to 49 years of age.
That situation is a barrier to home ownership both financially and in terms of securing a mortgage without a secure job.
“Those who don’t have the bank of mum and dad to fall back on will struggle to escape the high costs of renting,” added Martin.
Standardising employment status to ensure all workers have access to key rights and protections and making guaranteed minimum working hours the default of all employment contracts are among the measures proposed to fix the situation.
Researchers also called for reforms to statutory sick pay and urged leaders to make flexible working a day one right.
A new law allowing the workers the right to request predictable working patterns is expected to come into force later this year.
Paul Nowak, Trades Union Congress general secretary, said workers need greater rights.
“Insecure work is an epidemic in the UK,” he said.
“This research lays bare the financial precarity of those in insecure work, who struggle to pay their rent each month and are particularly vulnerable to rent hikes. Insecure work, like zero hours contracts, hands almost total control over hours and earning power to managers – making it nearly impossible for workers to plan their budget.
“It’s time to end the scourge of insecure work once and for all – starting with a ban on zero hours contracts, like Labour is proposing in its New Deal for Working People.”
Meanwhile, the Renters Reform Bill is expected to re-emerge now MPs have returned from Easter recess – albeit in potentially “watered down” form.
Ben Twomey, chief executive of Generation Rent, said, “People across the country are in desperate need of security in their lives – both at home and at work. We hear countless stories from private renters who are living in constant fear of being kicked out by their landlord at any time, through no fault of their own, with a Section 21 eviction. This must end.”
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