The Construction Confederation has welcomed Government measures aimed at cracking down on rogue employers who abuse vulnerable workers as "sensible and proportionate".

The strategy, which includes establishing a single telephone helpline for vulnerable workers to report abuses to the Government's workplace enforcement agencies, has stopped short of extending the remit of the Gangmaster Licensing Authority to cover construction. The work will be overseen by a new Fair Employment Enforcement Board which will co-ordinate the work of the government enforcement agencies covering minimum wage, health and safety, employment agencies and gangmasters.

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Stephen Ratcliffe, Chief Executive of the Construction Confederation said: "Common sense has prevailed - the proposals are proportionate and concur with the case that the Construction Confederation made that our highly-regulated sector does not need even more red tape.

"The Health and Safety at Work Act and the new CDM regulations are as much about protecting foreign workers and self-employed craftsmen as the directly employed workforce. The case for for introducing gangmaster licensing in construction has clearly not been made.

"Extending the remit of the Gangmaster Licensing Authority to cover construction is unnecessary and would only have imposed costly red tape on hard-pressed businesses at a time when the sector is facing increasing economic challenges.

"Any abuse is likely to be in the 'informal' element of the industry which pays little or not attention to regulation and the enforcement of existing regulations should be used to come down hard on anyone who exploits workers and undercuts honest, law-abiding businesses."

(CD/JM)