NASUWT National Executive Member Ruth Duncan has condemned the Government’s failure to tackle the unscrupulous practices of umbrella companies, who are subjecting supply teachers and other agency workers to exploitation and who are dodging their tax liabilities.
Speaking on a motion on umbrella companies at TUC Congress in Brighton, she pointed to NASUWT research which suggests that around three quarters of supply ...teachers are being pressured by supply agencies to sign contracts with umbrella companies and offshore organisations which seek to deny them their basic legal rights and entitlements.
She said: “Introduction of reforms by the Treasury in April 2016 have had very little impact on the umbrella companies themselves. The Government had the opportunity to end their profiteering practices, but failed.
“The new legal provisions were introduced to clamp down on unscrupulous employment intermediaries, but the NASUWT is increasingly concerned that the reality is that it has adversely impacted on the living standards of moderate and low earners. Many supply teachers have advised the NASUWT that the impact has been that they have declined work in schools which they would otherwise have accepted.”
