More than 60% of construction workers polled by insurance company constructaquote.com said that they worked without any form of employment contract, while a further 20% said they weren’t sure whether they had a contract or not.
And 16% said they had a “zero hours” contract, which creates a pool of “on call” workers but does not guarantee any work.
The study, which polled more than 1,043 UK adults aged over 18 who identified themselves as working in the industry, Of those polled, 34% were builders, 13% were plumbers and 9% were carpenters.
The survey also questioned respondents on annual leave entitlement and sick pay. More than four in five (82%) revealed that they did not receive any sick pay from their employer, and 86% don’t get any paid annual leave.
When asked if they get paid if the weather stopped them from working, only 12% said that they did, with a further 4% stating that it would depend on the circumstances.
"The majority of those we polled told us that they did not receive any sick pay or paid annual leave."
Lyndon Wood, constructaquote.com
Only 16% believed that they were working on a zero-hours contract, with more than three quarters (76%) stating that they don’t have any kind of contract and that they just turn up for work. But the majority (68%) said they would prefer to have an employment contract.
The new study comes after the Office for National Statistics revealed that the number of UK workers on zero-hours contracts has risen by 19%.
Typically, these give individuals ‘worker’ status and rights to holiday and sick pay, but do not give them "employee" status, which carries further rights such as maternity pay and leave, flexible working, statutory minimum notice periods or redundancy payments.
Lyndon Wood, chief executive of constructaquote.com said: “Our survey reveals that zero-hour contracts are customary in the construction industry. The majority of those we polled told us that they did not receive any sick pay or paid annual leave – which I think is a worrying statistic as many of our tradespeople are out in all weathers keeping the UK economy ticking over.
“I also think it is very telling that just under three quarters said that they would prefer to have a written employment contract and that 76% just turn up for work, with no contract in place.
“Working in the trades without any form of written contract has been the way the industry has worked for years.”
