FALSE SELF-EMPLOYMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Early day motion 440, tabled 19 November 2001 by Michael Clapham (Labour). Signed by 73 members.

That this House welcomes the publication, Undermining Construction, a comprehensive study of the corrosive effects of false self-employment on the construction industry caused when contractors and sub-contractors use self-employed labour rather than direct labour to avoid their responsibilities, thereby increasing the number of the false-employed in the industry to more than 360,000 leading to fragmentation of the industry, dismantling the apprenticeship structure, confusing responsibility for safety on sites, denying workers their employment rights and resulting in a direct fiscal loss both inclusive of tax and national insurance estimated at around ú1.5 billion per annum; and calls on the Government to end the anomaly of the self-employed in construction who have tax deducted at source and to introduce a new test to determine employment status.

Signatures by party: Labour 65, Labour/Co-operative 4, Liberal Democrat 3, UUP 1.