Brits work 'record amount' of unpaid overtime

08/01/2009

Workaholic Britons contributed £26.9 billion worth of overtime in 2008 - without being paid a penny.

This is the main finding of new research from the Trades Union Congress (TUC) - which conducts an annual survey on the issue.

The amount of unpaid overtime for the year was found to be the highest on record.

According to the TUC, over five million employees worked extra without being paid for their time in 2008 - with some of the largest increases found in London.

Fears over job losses, with unemployment on the rise thanks to the recession, could have provided an impetus behind the increased working hours.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "After years of progress, the numbers doing unpaid overtime has increased… while some of this is due to the long hours culture that still dogs too many British workplaces, the recession will now be making many people scared of losing their job in the year ahead and joining the ever-growing dole queue."

The TUC began its annual survey on overtime in 1992.

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