A taxation body representing employers says it will canvass trade opinion on bogus self-employment before submitting fiscal proposals to the chancellor Gordon Brown.
The Joint Taxation Committee, which includes the Construction Confederation and the House Builders Federation, also denied claims by construction union UCATT that contractors were responsible for the practice. The committee said: "The problem is of such magnitude that it needs urgent open consultation to formulate an acceptable solution."

Committee chairman Les Angell said: "Nobody in construction is against genuine self-employment.

It is the disease of false self-employment that must be addressed." The committee has also asked trade bodies to call for public consultation on the issue.