06 Bogus self-employment

Submitted by Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians

Congress notes many employers are using the recession to casualise employment. This amounts to an attack on workers’ pay and conditions.

Congress understands one of the most acute forms of casualisation is bogus self-employment, where workers are classified as self-employed but have all the characteristics of an employee.

Bogus self-employment denies workers basic employment rights. The bogus self-employed are at greater risk of injury, as they are likely to work on unorganised sites with low health and safety levels. Bogus self-employment reduces levels of training and apprenticeships.

Congress further notes that the Evasion Economy by Mark Harvey estimates there are at least 400,000 bogus self-employed workers in construction and that bogus self-employment via the Construction Industry Scheme costs the Exchequer £1.7 bn annually.

Congress welcomes the Warwick 2008 commitment to eradicate bogus self-employment from construction and the 2009 Budget announcement that the Treasury will hold a consultation into bogus self-employment in construction.

Congress calls on the General Council to campaign:

i) to have the CIS tax scheme scrapped and to oppose all forms of tax status that create bogus self-employment

ii) for a large-scale Government crackdown on employers who don’t provide basic employment rights such as holiday pay, sick pay and redundancy pay for their workforce

iii) to name and shame companies who cut costs by casualising employment, thereby cutting workers’ pay and conditions

iv) to end the confusion that exists around employment status so there are only two types of workers in the UK: employees and the genuine self-employed.