£17 a week to get your wages
Politicians and unions blast unfair admin fees
Workers at fallen construction firm Carillion were billed at least £17 a week just to have their wages processed.
The Sunday Mail can reveal how many staff had their pay packets plundered by so- called umbrella companies hired to process their salary.
Carillion went into liquidation last week.
Workers employed by failed construction giant Carillion were charged at least £17 a week just to receive their wages.
Fatcat bosses behind the company’s collapse walked away with millions while labourers had their wage packets slashed by so-called umbrella companies hired to pay their salaries.
One worker on the Shotts railway electrification project told how he was brought on to the scheme through an agency called Carillion Rail Resources.
His wages were paid by a Chester-based umbrella firm called Crest Plus Operations Ltd, who charge workers a weekly administration fee. He said: “We were effectively Carillion employees without the rights of someone employed by Carillion. “We wore Carillion clothes, did the same work – everything was the same apart from our pay packets and our workers’ rights. Crest took £17 off you to process wages and sometimes it could be £25 depending on how much you earn.
“When we had a meeting with Crest, they told us they were responsible for paying 10,000 workers. So imagine how much they are coining in charging guys a minimum of £17 every week.”
The wage slip passed to the Sunday Mail shows how a worker paid a £20 admin fee – but the amount can vary depending on how much the employee earns. Other deductions from workers’ pay was said to include employers’ national insurance. The worker added: “Carillion dodged paying the national insurance they would have to pay if they employed me direct.
“It’s a scam and pretty galling that they were effectively shafting the taxpayer while being paid fortunes to do public sector contracts.”
Carillion went bust on Monday, owing nearly £1.3billion and with a £590million black hole in their pension schemes.
Former chief executive Richard Howson earned £1.5million in 2016. Carillion were involved in Scottish public sector projects including Aberdeen’s £745million bypass and a £ 23million platform extension at Edinburgh Waverley.
Union Unite say the Carillion collapse exposed the abuse of construction workers’ rights. Regional officer Graeme Turnbull said: “It’s disgusting that public money is being creamed off by fatcats at the top in vast sums while the guys at the bottom are left struggling.”
Scottish Labour’s Jackie Baillie said: “It is unacceptable that companies working on public contracts are engaging in such practices.”
Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie said: “The companies concerned should end these rip-off charges immediately.”