Construction union UCATT have welcomed confirmation that the HMRC will be tackling false self-employment as part of their crackdown on employment agencies.

The HMRC announced last month that they are doubling their staffing levels and hiring an additional 100 inspectors to concentrate on tax abuses being committed by employment agencies.

Despite suggestions to the contrary, from representatives of employment agencies, the HMRC have confirmed in an interview in the Daily Mirror that the crackdown will include the growing problem of agencies wrongly applying employment status laws in order to avoid paying employers National Insurance contributions and other benefits such as holiday pay.

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The senior HMRC official told the Mirror that the employment status scam now stretched well beyond the construction industry, he said: "We're finding bogus self-employment among airline cabin crew, security guards and hotel cleaners who are paid by the room. When we investigate and prove they are employees, the business will mysteriously fold and start up again."

George Guy Acting General Secretary of UCATT, said: "The confirmation that the HMRC is cracking down on false self-employment being undertaken by employment agencies is welcome news. False self-employment is endemic in agencies operating in construction and is costing the taxpayer millions of pounds every year in lost revenue. Employment agencies must realise that they can no longer get away with falsely self-employing workers and denying them the most basic employment rights."

(CD/KMcA)