I write to request information about your use of zero hours contracts in the tax year 2022/2023 under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
We are aware that we sent you a similar request for the data on zero hours contract in 2020/2021. We are now interested to know whether this data has changed and some of the questions are different.
For clarification:
• By zero hours contract, I refer to the definition provided by section 27A of the Employment Rights Act 1996: "a contract for employment or other worker's contract under which
- the undertaking to or perform work or services is an undertaking to do so conditionally on the employer making work available or services available to the worker, and
- there is no certainty that any such work or services will be made available to the worker."
• By minimum hours contract, I mean a contract where the employer guarantees a small number of hours work, say 1 to 10 hours a week, which can be topped up by more hours if available.
1. What other terminology to do you use for contracts or arrangements meeting the above legal definition of zero hours contract?
2. How many workers/employees do you currently directly employ on zero hours contracts? What is the breakdown of these figures according to:
(a) sex: Male, Female, Other, Prefer not to say
(b) age: 16-17, 18-20, 21-22, 23-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65+
(c) race:
White - English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/British Irish
White - Gypsy or Irish Traveller
White - any other background
Asian or Asian British - Indian
Asian or Asian British - Pakistani
Asian or Asian British - Bangladeshi
Asian or Asian British - Chinese
Asian or Asian British - Any other background
Black or Black British - Caribbean
Black or Black British - African
Black or Black British - Any other background
Mixed - White and Black Caribbean
Mixed - White and Black African
Mixed - White and Asian
Mixed - Any other mixed background
Other ethnic group
Prefer not to say
3. What is the minimum, maximum and average number of hours per week carried out by zero hours staff?
4. Do you have a policy to offer zero hours shifts with notice, pay for zero hours shifts cancelled at short notice and to offer a fixed hours contracts to zero hours staff based on actual hours worked?
5. How many workers/employees do you currently indirectly employ on zero hours contracts via agencies, contractors or sub-contractors? If this data is not available, please provide the names of the agencies, contractors or sub-contractors that you use to employ workers indirectly.
6. How many workers/employees do you currently directly employ on minimum hours contracts or via agencies, contractors or sub-contractors?
7. How many workers/employees in total do you currently employ? What is the breakdown of these figure according to same breakdown as Question 2? - please note this question concerns your entire workforce, not just zero hours staff.
Thank you for your recent request dated 27th January 2023.
Please note this response is from Public Health Wales (PHW), you may wish to contact the individual health boards for their own data as we do not have access to data for all of NHS Wales.
1) What other terminology do you use for contracts or arrangements meeting the above legal definition of zero hours contract?
In PHW, zero hours contracts are utilised for the ‘Staff Bank’ and the contracts are referred to as ‘Bank Terms of Engagement’
2) How many workers/employees do you currently directly employ on zero hours contracts?
76
What is the breakdown of these figures according to:
(a) sex: Male, Female, Other, Prefer not to say
56 female;
20 male
(b) age:
Please note: The following groups have been merged to avoid potential identification of individuals due to numbers being below 10 in certain groups
16-24: 13
25-34: 19
35-54: 15
55-64: 19
65+: 10
(c) race:
Please note: The following groups have been merged to avoid potential identification of individuals due to numbers being below 10 in certain groups
White - any background 31
Other ethnic group/Not stated: 35
3. What is the minimum, maximum and average number of hours per week carried out by zero hours staff?
Minimum: 1 hour
Average: 20.71 hours
Maximum: 48 hours
4. Do you have a policy to offer zero hours shifts with notice, pay for zero hours shifts cancelled at short notice and to offer a fixed hours contracts to zero hours staff based on actual hours worked?
No
5. How many workers/employees do you currently indirectly employ on zero hours contracts via agencies, contractors or sub-contractors? If this data is not available, please provide the names of the agencies, contractors or sub-contractors that you use to employ workers indirectly.
None
6. How many workers/employees do you currently directly employ on minimum hours contracts or via agencies, contractors or sub-contractors?
The number agency workers (headcount) is collated on a quarterly basis. Public Health Wales engaged 218 (headcount) agency workers between April and December 2022. We do not collate the total full time equivalent of agency staff until year-end, and are therefore unable to confirm minimum hours worked by agency staff at this point in the financial year.
7. How many workers/employees in total do you currently employ? What is the breakdown of these figure according to same breakdown as Question 2? - please note this question concerns your entire workforce, not just zero hours staff.
Please note: The following groups have been merged to avoid potential identification of individuals due to numbers being below 10 in certain groups
White - any background 1,847
Asian or Asian British – Any background 82
Black or Black British –Any background 48
Mixed - Any mixed background 40
Other ethnic group 14 Not stated: 299
Total 2,330
If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of the decision, you should write to the Corporate Complaints Manager, Public Health Wales NHS Trust, 3, Number 2, Capital Quarter, Tyndall Street, Cardiff, CF10 4BZ.
If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint or review, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the Trust. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner for Wales
2nd Floor
Churchill House
Churchill Way
Cardiff
CF10 2HH
Telephone: 029 2067 8400
Email: wales@ico.org.uk