forms that they take and clearer guidance on what good and bad practice in their use looks like. And this needs to consider both the advantages and disadvantages in practice for businesses and employees.” Retailer Sports Direct recently became the focus of controversy on zero-hours when it emerged that the company employs around 20,000 of its 23,000 staff on the contracts. The retailer’s use of the contracts was followed by details of a string of other companies using the deals, including cinema chain Cineworld and Buckingham Palace, which uses them for its 350 summer workers. Pub group J D Wetherspoon has 24,000 of its staff – 80% of its workforce – on the terms. Vidhya Alakeson, from the Resolution Foundation, an independent think tank, added: “If it’s true that there are around one million people on zero-hours contracts, then that would be a substantial portion of the workforce – this could no longer be dismissed as an issue affecting only a tiny minority. “The new estimate underlines the urgent need for a deep and thorough review of zero-hours by the government, which takes into account not only the scale of the problem but the effect these contracts have on workers’ employment rights, earning capacity and personal well-being.” Unions and poverty campaign groups have accused employers of pressuring staff into signing the contracts as a way to evade