Construction union UCATT has welcomed Labour's announcement that the next Labour Government will crackdown on false self-employment in the construction industry.

Rachel Reeves, Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, has announced that the next Labour Government will act on the issue. Labour will take the deeming proposals which were being considered by the last Labour Government as their starting point.

False self-employment occurs when workers are registered self-employed but have all the characteristics of an employee. The principal beneficiaries are employers who avoid paying national insurance contributions of 13.8% per worker.

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UCATT research has previously found that up to 400,000 workers are falsely self-employed in the construction industry, which is costing the Treasury £1.9m a year in lost revenue.

Steve Murphy, General Secretary of UCATT, said: "False self-employment is corrupting the construction industry. Labour's commitment to clampdown on this is a massive step forward. I want to congratulate the Shadow Treasury team for this pro-active policy, which will have a real impact on the lives of construction workers."

If deeming was introduced, it would mean that construction workers were deemed to be employees unless they met very strict criteria to prove they were self-employed.

Falsely self-employed workers are also denied holiday pay, sick pay and do not receive pension contributions.

(CD/JP)