South West workers put in £2.7billion worth of unpaid overtime last year

• 450,000 workers in the South West put in a total of 170 million unpaid hours in 2019
• The average person doing unpaid overtime has worked the year so far for free
• Right to work reasonable hours must be protected in EU deal, says TUC

 Employers in the South West claimed £2.7bn worth of free labour last year because of workers’ doing unpaid overtime, according to new analysis of official statistics published today (Friday) by the Trades Union Congress (TUC).

More than 450,000 people put in an average of 7.2 hours a week in unpaid overtime during 2019. On average, that’s equivalent to having £6,000 taken out of individual pay packets.

Today is the TUC’s 16th annual Work Your Proper Hours Day, marking the fact that the average person has effectively worked the year so far for free due to unpaid overtime hours.

Key findings from the trade union body also shows:

• Public sector employees were more likely to work overtime (1 in 4) for free than workers in the private sector (1 in 6);
• After chief executives, teachers and those in the education profession worked the most unpaid overtime hours per week (12.5 hours and 11.9 hours respectively)
• And despite many women working part-time, women workers put in an average 7 hours for free every week.

As Britain begins trade negotiations with the EU, the TUC is calling for UK workers’ rights – including the Working Time Directive – to be protected in any deal.

TUC Regional Secretary Nigel Costley said:

“The government needs to crack down on Britain’s long hours culture. Too many workplaces are getting away with stealing their workers’ time.

“And it’s clear that bosses and managers are also caught in this unhealthy working culture.

“Despite what some bosses believe, overworking staff hurts productivity, leaves workers’ stressed and exhausted, and eats into time that should be spent with family and friends.

 “But instead of strengthening protections for all workers, ministers want to use Brexit as an excuse to chuck out the limited protections we already have.

“That’s why any EU Trade deal needs to guarantee that employment rights, like those covered by the Working Time Directive, are protected in the future.”

To mark Work Your Proper Hours Day, the TUC is encouraging workers to take a proper lunch break and leave on time. Employers should adopt good practice and take steps to manage down unpaid overtime hours.

Across the UK:

• To mark Work Your Proper Hours Day, the TUC is encouraging workers to take a proper lunch break and leave on time. Employers should adopt good practice and take steps to manage down unpaid overtime hours.
• The TUC is calling for any trade deal with the EU to maintain workers’ existing rights and establish a level playing field so that British workers’ rights do not fall behind those of other European workers.
• The EU Working Time Directive was adopted by the UK in November 1998. It stipulates an average limit of 48 hours on maximum weekly working time, which is usually calculated over 17 weeks. There’s an opt-out clause for individual workers, although the TUC has argued that this provision has been widely abused.
• Brexit-supporting politicians, including the prime minister, have repeatedly questioned the value of the Working Time Directive. See here and here.

Key findings

• Gender: The TUC study reveals that men work just over a billion unpaid overtime hours a year, (1,089 million hours) compared to 0.94 billion hours for women (941 million hours). More than 1 in 6 (18.3%) men work unpaid overtime, averaging 8.2 hours per week. A similar percentage of women (18.8%) also put in unpaid hours. Even though many women work part-time the average for those undertaking unpaid overtime is 7.0 hours a week.
• Public sector: 1 in 4 public sector employees (25.0%) worked unpaid overtime, compared to around 1 in 6 employees in the private sector (16.4%). Public sector workers contributed £13.2 billion of unpaid overtime last year. Public sector employees make up just a quarter (25.4%) of total employees but produce more than a third (35.1%) of all unpaid overtime.
• Occupations: Chief executives work the most unpaid hours on average each week (12.5 hours), followed by teachers and educational professionals (11.9 hours).
• Region: London relies most on free work, with almost 1 in 4 workers (24%) doing unpaid overtime, (compared to the national average of fewer than one in five (19%).  Employees in London worked more than a third of a billion free hours (£385 million) last year. The South East is next, with 22% working unpaid overtime, while 19% in the South West and 18% in the Eastern Region and West Midlands are working free hours.

Table 1 – Unpaid overtime by region and value

Table 2 – unpaid overtime for occupations with longest average unpaid hours

Source: the TUC’s analysis used unpublished ONS data from the Labour Force Survey (July-September 2019) and the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (2019)

*Functional managers: financial managers, marketing and sales directors, purchasing managers, advertising and public relations directors, human resource managers, IT managers.

– The Trades Union Congress (TUC) exists to make the working world a better place for everyone. We bring together more than 5.5 million working people who make up our 49 member unions. We support unions to grow and thrive, and we stand up for everyone who works for a living.