Unpaid overtime hits new record

A record 5.26 million people worked unpaid overtime last year — the highest since records began in 1992, according to a TUC analysis of official figures to mark the annual Work Your Proper Hours Day.

The increasing amount of unpaid overtime worked is likely to be a symptom of tough economic conditions, with staff having to pick up new work as well as the work left over by colleagues who have been made redundant, the TUC believes.

The TUC analysis found that over one in five workers (21%) regularly worked unpaid overtime last year, an increase of 0.7 percentage points since 2009 and the highest proportion since 1997.

Public sector workers are the most likely to do unpaid overtime, with over one in four regularly putting in more than seven hours of unpaid overtime a week, compared to around one in six workers in the private sector.

Workers in London are most likely to work unpaid overtime (28%), followed by the South East (25%) and the East of England (24%).

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “With tough economic conditions making employers reluctant to recruit, existing staff are picking up much of the increasing work load through unpaid hours.”