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Bogus self-employment a threat to Olympic safety
A drive to cut the London Olympic construction costs is threatening to suck in large numbers of 'bogus self-employed' migrant workers, leading to widespread tax avoidance, heightened safety risks and blocked work opportunities for local people, ministers have been told. Alan Ritchie, general secretary of construction union UCATT, has written to Jane Kennedy, financial secretary to the treasury, and Paul Gray, chairman of Revenue & Customs, warning that a decision by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) to allow contractors to recruit self-employed workers would encourage tax abuses and reduce site safety. He said: 'My union is doing everything it can to ensure that workers are properly employed at the Olympics. The Olympics should be built in a safe environment by workers in receipt of good pay and good conditions. It is entirely unacceptable to allow a situation where the ODA allows extensive tax avoidance to take place on such a prestigious public project.' The union says because of a lack of employment rights, sites using bogus self-employment are usually unorganised. This means that they lack independent safety reps, UCATT said, adding: 'They have a far higher rate of accidents, injuries and deaths than organised sites with independent safety reps.' UCATT said the industry's self-employment tax scheme is habitually abused, with companies registering workers as self-employed when they really should be classed as directly employed. As a result, contractors did not have to pay national insurance, holiday and sick pay, and pension contributions.
Briefing document (300 words) issued 20 Jul 2007
