One in five North-East workers do unpaid overtime (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

One in five North-East workers do unpaid overtime

4:44pm Thursday 28th February 2013 in News

NORTH-EAST workers do £14m worth of unpaid overtime every week, with more than a fifth working more than their contracted hours, a new study has revealed.

Teachers and education professionals top the overtime table by putting in an average of 11 hours of unpaid work per week, with health and social service managers adding an extra eight hours.

The study, published by the TUC , shows that almost 1.8million workers, or 17.5 per cent of the North-East workforce, are regularly working many hours of unpaid overtime .

The average amount is six hours per week.

Kevin Rowan, northern TUC regional secretary, said: “Today’s figures demonstrate the scale of dedication and commitment so many people in our region give to their job.

“While some additional working is expected by employers, the current figures show such a large amount of unpaid overtime can also represent excessive workloads.”

Last year five million UK workers put in extra hours for free – worth more than £5,600 a year per person to their employer.

The 1.8billion hours of unpaid overtime worked across the UK in 2012 added £23.8bn to the economy.

The TUC analysis also shows a sharp rise in unpaid overtime amongst public sector employees, who are more likely to do extra hours for free than private sector staff.