An increase in agency work in the UK has led to exploitation, scams and cons, forcing huge numbers of people to work under a “dark shadow”, Tim Roache, general secretary of the GMB union (UK’s General Union), said during a Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee inquiry meeting yesterday.

The committee’s meeting focused on agency workers and is part of the Committee's inquiry into the future world of work.

Roache commented on zero-hours contracts, ““It has huge implications for a person’s social life, with employers having complete power and control, and workers not knowing if they have work tomorrow let alone next week.” He also said it led to “very flexible or utterly inflexible” work in the gig economy. He said agency workers faced a “revolving door”, describing agency work as casting a “dark shadow”.

Roache also stated that the rise of part-time agency work and the gig economy has led the UK “hurtling towards casualisation of labour and society has a price to pay.” He also stated that the rise of the gig economy led to the UK’s decision to leave the EU.