AN MP who campaigns to improve agency workers' legal protection is seeking evidence of poor treatment for a Government report.

Bishop Auckland MP Helen Goodman is urging agency staff to contact her at the House of Commons.

She was one of a number of Labour MPs who pressed for UK legislation to tackle abuse of agency workers, claiming that unscrupulous employers used them to drive down the pay and conditions of directly-employed workers.

She said: "I want the workers in my constituency to tell me about their experiences as an agency worker.

"For some, the flexibility of temporary agency working is a bonus, but increasingly I am coming across instances where agency working is the only option on offer and with it comes job insecurity, poorer pay, no holiday and sick pay and even cases of pay being docked to pay for essential equipment or training.

"In this constituency alone, there will be hundreds, possibly thousands, of agency workers, and across the economy there are almost 1.5 million.

"When agency labour is mistreated or being used to undercut the hard-fought pay and conditions of their directly employed colleagues, we must challenge this so I appeal to the people I represent to help with this vital campaign."

People can write to her at the House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA before May 31.