Your article “We’ve got your workers” (14 July) misrepresents the greater number of labour providers in the construction sector.

It is inaccurate to suggest that agencies and composite companies are one and the same and that agencies only exist because of a loophole in the tax system. Or that all recruitment agencies force employees to find work through composite companies and neglect to outline other options available to the worker for their own personal gain.

Most agencies are reputable, law-abiding organisations that provide candidates with the choice of being a PAYE employee or going through a limited company. If the latter is chosen, it is the worker who decides which composite company they go through, making this choice entirely void of bias. Working for a composite company cannot be made a condition of employment.

There is no denying that some businesses continue to flout legislation and carry out bad practice but it is wrong to assume that this is common practice for labour agencies.

Trevor Rees, head of the REC construction sector group

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