UCATT general secretary George Brumwell this week renewed his call for workers on government contracts to be directly employed.
Brumwell made the suggestion as part of the consultation process accompanying a review of the Construction Industry Scheme, the Inland Revenue's system for collecting tax from the construction industry.

He said the government ought to insist that workers on big government contracts and PFI schemes be directly employed.

"All workers should pay full National Insurance and tax unless they can prove otherwise," said Brumwell. "That way, the government can earn more revenue and people will be employed properly."

He added that major contractors and clients ought to audit all staff to ensure that they are directly employed when that was appropriate.

UCATT said this week that it was disappointed with the first responses it had received from the Inland Revenue about the CIS review.

The union said criticisms made in its report Undermining Construction, which considered the issue of bogus employment in the industry, had been ignored by the government.

UCATT said: "The Inland Revenue and the DTI need to co-ordinate their efforts in dealing with false self-employment."