GOVERNMENT plans allowing low-paid staff to work for multiple employers to top up their wages is just tinkering around the edges as the cost of living rockets, the TUC charged yesterday.

The union federation’s warning came after ministers announced proposals to widen the ban on exclusivity clauses that restrict low earners to working for one employer on contracts where the guaranteed weekly income is £123 a week or less. 

The change will ensure workers in this group — thought to number about 1.5 million — are able to top up their income with extra work if they choose, the government claimed.

It added that the reform will give workers “more flexibility over when and where they work to best suit their personal circumstances,” such as childcare or study, and help business by “widening the talent pool of jobs applicants.”

Business Minister Paul Scully said: “We are putting more control into the hands of the lowest paid, giving them the freedom to decide who they work for and how often.”

But TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady urged the government to go further.

She said: “Ministers should ensure that workers can secure the hours of work they want and need. 

“But this is tinkering around the edges. Widening the ban on exclusivity clauses alone isn’t nearly enough to assist low paid and insecure workers.

“The government must bring forward its long-awaited employment Bill as quickly as possible.

“The Bill must include giving workers a right to a contract reflecting their normal hours of work and robust rules governing notice of shifts and compensation for cancelled shifts.”