Around half the big companies operating in the UK use zero-hour contracts, with the overall stock of contracts reaching 1.4 million.

Government figures show that 583,000 people are employed on zero-hours, meaning their employer doesn’t guarantee a minimum number of working time.

The data, from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), shows that most workers on these deals have at least two jobs, while more than one-in-five health and social sector workers used them.

Digging into the detail, people on the contracts were more likely to be students, female and either young or beyond retirement age.

In its report the ONS said: "These patterns may partly reflect the groups most likely to find the flexibility of zero-hours contracts an advantage."