CONSTRUCTION workers at a flagship specialist emergency care hospital are to stage a demonstration today over alleged exploitation at the site.

Ucatt members on the site in Northumbria have reported that they are now working via umbrella companies, forcing them to pay both the employee and employer contributions for national insurance — over 25 per cent of their eligible pay.

The workers also claim they are receiving rolled-up holiday pay, meaning that their holiday pay is in their rate of pay and they are not paid when they take time off.

In some cases workers on the hospital project are only paid the national minimum wage with the remainder of their pay being made up in expenses, the union said.

Ucatt northern regional secretary Denis Doody said: “This is an outrageous example of exploitation of construction workers on a publicly funded project.”

The use of umbrella companies to pay construction workers has increased dramatically in recent weeks.

This follows a change in the law in April, when the government introduced new measures requiring employment agencies and payroll companies to pay workers via PAYE.

Mr Doody added: “Today’s protest is just the beginning of the campaign. We will be contacting the client, the contractor and local politicians in order to ensure that this type of exploitation is stamped out once and for all.”

The protest is scheduled to take place at the site entrance at the Northumbria Emergency Care Hospital, Lamb Street, Cramlington, Northumberland,