Research by tax refund specialist RIFT found that up to 518,650 permanent construction employees could be eligible for money back on travel between temporary workplaces.

The company said that PAYE construction operatives like labourers, ground workers and brick layers are failing to claim these expenses back unlike self-employed workers who deduct travel expenses as part of their annual self-assessment tax returns.

Jan Post, Managing Director of RIFT, said: “It’s a national scandal that thousands of hard working people are missing out on tax refunds that are rightfully theirs while some of the richest people have been handed a tax cut in the recent Budget announcement.

“We estimate that there could be as much as £180 million pounds floating around HMRC that could be putting food on peoples’ tables who aren’t earning sky high salaries.”

Derek Flowers, a construction worker from Deal in Kent, said: “Money is tight at the moment, and we should be able to get back any tax that we are entitled too. It’s galling to read about the rich paying a smaller proportion of their income in tax than I do when they’re earning millions.”