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Construction union UCATT have welcomed the announcement by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) that they are doubling the number of compliance officers examining employment agencies and gangmasters.
The HMRC believe that by employing 100 additional officers they will generate an additional £500 million in revenue.
UCATT have been heavily lobbying both the HMRC and the Government over their strong concerns that employment agencies, gangmasters and payroll companies have been deliberately flouting tax rules, in order to boost profits and deny workers employment rights. Employment Agencies in the construction industry are increasingly forcing workers to be falsely self-employed in order to avoid paying employers national insurance contributions (12.8% of earnings), holiday pay, sick pay and other benefits.
George Guy, Acting General Secretary of UCATT, said: "Employment agencies in the construction industry increasingly believe they can ignore employment status rules and are denying the treasury millions every year in revenue. If agencies are not compiling with employment status rules then it is unsurprising that other tax rules are also being flouted. It is vital that this crackdown has the widest possible scope in order to ensure that agencies are operating fairly across the board."
Problems with Employment agencies flouting employment status laws have been heightened by several recent high profile comments by senior spokespeople at the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), the largest trade association for employment agencies, who have claimed that construction workers choose to be self-employed. This directly contradicts HMRC guidelines, which clearly state that employment status is "not a matter of choice" but "depends upon the terms and conditions of the relevant engagement".
Mr Guy added: "Employment status is not about choice, agencies, gangmasters and payroll companies should not be allowed to falsely self-employ workers and deny them even the most basic employment rights in order to boost profits."
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