Can I sue?

[nucastle]

Thanks I'll get in touch with them.

Was speaking to an ex-colleague at the same company on friday and he told me that another ex-contractor is going through the EXACT same bother with them. This time for TWO months of work.

Clearly standard operating procedure at this place. I'll never work for an 'IT shop' ever again.

[BlasterBates]

This sounds like systematic fraud. If you are chasing them anyway might be worth reporting this, and perhaps getting in touch with others to encourage them to do the same. Once there are several complaints, it might help to make them more co-operative.