Zero-hours retail contracts still widespread at Frasers

The owner of Sports Direct confirmed yesterday that two-thirds of its retail workforce remain on zero-hours contracts ahead of legislation designed to limit their use.

- Sarah Butler

Frasers Group told MPs examining plans to strengthen protections for employees that 11,500 staff were on the contracts, which do not guarantee any weekly working shifts, and that they did not receive compensation even if shifts were changed at the last minute.

MPs on parliament's business and trade select committee also heard three quarters of the 5,200 people employed at the group's main warehouse in Derbyshire - 4,000 are agency workers who can be let go without notice, eight years after the company promised MPs it would move them to permanent contracts.

The testimony came from Andy Brown, chief people officer at Frasers Group - which owns House of Fraser and the luxury streetwear chain Flannels as well as Evans Cycles and Sports Direct. He admitted the pace of change was "certainly not fast", with an average 200 people a year shifting from agency to permanent contracts over the past three years.