Labour supplier says recently completed review has seen any discrepancies over compliance of workers ‘immediately addressed’

HS2 has said it has written to all its civils contractors continuing to use labour supplier Danny Sullivan Group that “they must provide assurance over the continued employment of the company”.

The news comes as Bam became the next contractor to say that it was stopping working with the firm on jobs “where compliance issues have been identified”.

Earlier this month, Balfour Beatty said it was severing ties with the labour supplier after saying the firm “misinformed” it over “the provision of Construction Industry Scheme workers instead of PAYE employees”.

hs2

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HS2 has told its civils contractors they must ensure ‘robust monitoring’ over workers’ employment status is in place 

Its move came after HS2 said at the end of May it had launched an investigation into a labour agency supplier after a whistleblower reportedly accused it of allegedly overinflating rates charged for labour supply.

It emerged the allegation related to Danny Sullivan, which was employed by the Balfour Beatty Vinci (BBV) team building large parts of the West Midlands section of the HS2 railway.

In a statement, HS2 said: “Following BBV’s decision to terminate contractual arrangements with Danny Sullivan Group, HS2 Ltd wrote to all main civils contractors to advise that that they must provide assurance over the continued employment of the company and ensure robust monitoring is in place.”

It added: “We have been very clear with our supply chain partners that unethical behaviour cannot be tolerated and we fully support them in taking decisive action.”

Bam did not identify which jobs it had stopped working with Danny Sullivan on but its scheme on HS2 is understood to be one of them.

It said: “BAM UK & Ireland has taken the decision to end Danny Sullivan Group’s involvement on projects where compliance issues have been identified. This follows an internal review of our labour supply arrangements, which remains ongoing.

“We continue to work with Danny Sullivan Group on other contracts while further investigations are carried out. This measured approach reflects our focus on responsible supply chain management.

“We remain fully committed to the highest standards of ethics, legal compliance, and workforce welfare, and are working closely with our clients and partners as we continue to monitor and review the situation.”

In a statement, Danny Sullivan said: “Danny Sullivan & Sons Ltd recently undertook a review into the erroneous engagement of a number of Construction Industry Scheme workforce operatives. The findings and recommendations of this review were shared with BAM with any discrepancies being immediately addressed. This includes a small number of individuals having their employment transferred to BAM. Our labour supply to BAM continues across all other UK infrastructure projects.

“This review took place in conjunction with a transformation programme to support ongoing and future partnerships across UK infrastructure projects. Our trusted clients will now benefit from this significant investment and operational improvements undertaken as part of this process, with rigorous controls in place to ensure such mistakes do not reoccur.”