OFT offers cash to contractors to shop cartels

Contractors are being offered up to £100,000 to blow the whistle on construction cartels.

Officials at the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) are offering the incentives as part of their ongoing campaign to crackdown on uncompetitive behaviour.

The cash rewards will be on offer for an 18-month trial period and the money will be handed over when information leads to a prosecution.

Simon Williams, OFT senior director of Cartels and Criminal Enforcement, said: "Cartels are very damaging both to businesses and consumers, and they are usually conducted in secret, making them hard to detect. We believe it its in the public interest to offer financial incentives to encourage more people with good information about the existence of hardcore cartel activity to come forward. In exceptional circumstances, these incentives may be as high as £100,000."

To inform on cartels, call the OFT hotline on 0800 085 1664 or email cartelshotline@oft.gsi.gov.uk.