LRD guides and handbook May 2015

Law at Work 2015

Chapter 2

The Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) and false self-employment

[ch 2: page 38]

The Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) is a tax deduction scheme that operates in the construction sector. CIS has been condemned by construction union UCATT as “the main facilitator of false self-employment”. Falsely declaring someone to be self-employed instead of operating PAYE produces a tax and national insurance saving. CIS is operated by the organisation that makes the payments, but the tax rate deducted depends on the registered employment status of the worker.

For more information, see UCATT’s False Self Employment page www.ucatt.org.uk/false-self-employment