The IT recruitment trade body ATSCo is to continue lobbying the government to remove a clause from legislation that outlaws agencies demanding timesheets from contractors and temps.

The Employment Agencies Act, which comes into effect on 6 April, suggests that agencies could use timesheets as an excuse not to pay up. But ATSCo has claimed that the move could leave the industry open to fraud.

Vic Patterson, head of the DTI’s Employment Agency Standards Policy Unit, will meet with ATSCo members on Thursday 19 February to discuss timesheet fraud.

One famous scam, when a contractor faked his own death to avoid paying £10,000 of debts, was uncovered when a consultant spotted forged signatures on a timesheet.