NOT all zero hours contracts of employment are bad. They are the only practical solution, for example, for women returning from maternity leave who wish to work flexible hours, usually in order to work around the availability of family members to care for the infant.

If the alternative is a fixed contract for a specified number of hours then both the employer and the employee are stuck with it.

I read that employees on zero hours contracts work on average 25 hours per week, a figure that is typical of the hours worked by a woman juggling the demands of work against the needs of her infant.

Undoubtedly some employees will endure inadequate or insecure working hours, but not all zero hours contracts are bad. Abolish them and you place a further obstacle between certain sectors of the workforce and their employers.

Peter Sotheran, Redcar.