Night shift laws could be overhauled

According to recent research by the Trade Union Congress (TUC), over

three million people did night work in 2014. This is over 200,000 more than the number on the eve of the financial crash.

This effectively means that one in eight people in the UK workforce is expected to work while the rest of the country sleeps.

This growing trend towards anti-social hours is especially noticeable among female members-of-staff.

A number of studies have suggested that, in the long term, night shifts can take their toll on workers’ health, with increased rates of cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

Now the TUC believes that the time is right to revisit the current laws and make it the case that no existing employees should be forced by their bosses to work at night.

This has worried some in the business community, who increasingly run 24 hour operations and fear that new restrictions may present problems.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said that flexible working involved finding a balance that suited both the employee and employer.

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