The Scottish Government has called for full control over workers’ rights in Scotland as the number of people on “exploitative” insecure job contracts soared by more than 20% in a year.
Business and Fair Work Minister Tom Arthur used the latest figures to argue that Holyrood should have responsibility for employment law, saying devolving those powers would offer the strongest long-term protection for workers.
Zero-hours numbers rise in Scotland
The latest Office for National Statistics labour force survey, seen by the Herald, shows 95,000 Scots were on zero-hours contracts between April and June this year. That is up from 79,000 in the same period in 2025, an increase of 16,000.
The rise comes as Labour faces pressure to deliver its pledge to ban “exploitative” zero-hours contracts. Employment law is currently reserved to Westminster, meaning Holyrood cannot introduce its own general ban.
Labour made the commitment before winning the UK General Election in July 2024. The figure for Scotland is now almost double the level recorded when the UK Government first launched a review into zero-hours contracts in 2013.
Holyrood and union calls for devolution
The Scottish Trades Union Congress has backed the call for more powers to be transferred from London. STUC general secretary Roz Foyer said an Employment Rights Act “must be delivered in full, without delay or dilution”.
Mr Arthur said: “The Scottish Government believes all employees must be treated and paid fairly for the work they do and firmly opposes the inappropriate use of zero hour contracts and fire and rehire practices.”
He added that ministers want to see Labour’s Employment Rights Act implemented while also pressing for employment powers to be transferred to Scotland.
Mr Arthur said: “The best way to protect workers’ rights in Scotland in the long term is the full devolution of employment powers, a position that is shared by the STUC.”
How the figures have changed
The analysis shows that in 2013, when the then Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government launched a review after identifying what it described as “a steady rise” in their use, there were just 46,000 workers on such contracts in Scotland.
By 2015 to 2017, the Scottish total generally stood between 55,000 and 65,000, before rising to around 70,000 to 75,000 in 2018 and 2019. The number fell during the pandemic, when lockdown restrictions closed businesses and furlough protected many jobs, before rising again as parts of the economy reopened.
Workers’ rights groups have long criticised zero-hours contracts because they do not guarantee regular hours and can leave employees facing uncertainty over pay and shifts. Some contracts require workers to accept shifts offered, while others do not.
The STUC says Scotland’s labour market has distinct needs and that employment law should be fully devolved to the Scottish Parliament. In a further statement, Roz Foyer said: “Scotland’s labour market has distinct needs and challenges that our parliament should be far more empowered to correct, including making Fair Work standards mandatory across all workplaces.
Decisions about workers’ rights should therefore be legislated in Scotland, ensuring that rights can be strengthened while helping Scotland retain and attract a skilled workforce.
She added: “For too long, governments at Westminster attacked workplace protections and sought to weaken the collective voice of workers through their trade unions. Workers’ rights should never again be vulnerable to the whims of a future Conservative, or potential Reform Government, intent on rolling back hard-won protections and weakening the trade union movement.”
Labour and UK government positions
News Briefing Team revealed in May 2024 that Labour, then favourite to form the next UK Government, had pledged to ban “exploitative” zero-hours contracts as part of its New Deal for Working People. The commitment dated back to Labour’s 2015 manifesto and was repeated in Jeremy Corbyn’s 2017 manifesto and the party’s 2019 blueprint.
Rachel Reeves, then shadow chancellor, set out the latest plans in March 2024, promising workers a contract reflecting the hours they regularly worked over a 12-week period while allowing employers to offer overtime and meet seasonal demand.
The proposals were criticised because they would not necessarily end every zero-hours contract, with workers in some circumstances able to choose to remain on them. Labour said its approach, based on employment reforms introduced in Ireland, would amount to a ban on exploitative contracts.
Ian Murray, then Labour’s shadow Scottish secretary, defended the plans to News Briefing Team in May 2024, saying the party’s commitment was “ironclad” and that it would “ban exploitative zero hour contracts, end fire and rehire, make work pay, expand sick pay and more”.
A UK Government spokesperson said: “This is a UK Government on the side of Scottish workers, and for the labour market to work effectively across Great Britain we need one framework with consistent workplace rights and responsibilities.
“Our Employment Rights Act will make work pay in Scotland and tackle the insecurity, inequality and low incomes that have held back workers and businesses for too long.”