The Gangmasters Licensing Authority is an agency in the United Kingdom regulating the supply of workers to the agricultural, horticultural and shellfish industries. Employment agencies (labour providers) working in those fields have had to be licenced by the authority since 1 October 2006.
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The agency is a non-departmental public body which was established on 1 April 2005 by the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act 2004, passed as the result of the 2004 Morecambe Bay cockling disaster.[1] The primary purpose of the authority is to prevent the exploitation of workers in the food production sector.[2] It is based in Bilborough in north-west Nottingham.
The GLA was set up to prevent the exploitation of workers, particularly by debt bondage and forced labour and to improve health and safety standards, in what had become an unregulated area of employment.[3]
Businesses which provide labour in the following sectors need to be licensed:
Until the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994, introduced by Conservative minister John Redwood, all such agencies would have needed to operate under such a scheme. This followed from the Employment Agencies Act 1973, which required all employment agencies to be licensed. The 1994 Act removed the licensing regime, though there have been renewed calls for its reintroduction, especially given the drive for the Temporary and Agency Worker (Equal Treatment) Bill.
Companies who use labour providers in these sectors are termed ‘labour users’, and have faced prosecution if they use workers or services provided by an unlicensed labour provider, since 1 December 2006.
Four specific offences have been established by the Act:
Moves to create the Licensing Authority were spearheaded by the Temporary Labour Working Group, a coalition of the National Farmers Union, the Transport & General Workers' Union, the Food and Drink Federation, the British Retail Consortium and the Ethical Trading Initiative. Jim Sheridan introduced a Private Members Bill into Parliament early in 2004 and the Government adopted this bill following the deaths of 23 Chinese cockle pickers in the 2004 Morecambe Bay cockling disaster, England on 5 February 2004.
The Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs can appoint "enforcement officers" to enforce the 2004 Act.
In England and Wales, and Northern Ireland, enforcement officers have certain powers of arrest (see below) in relation to the following offences:[4]
An enforcement officer may arrest:[4]
This power is in addition to the "any person" power of arrest under section 24A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (or Article 26A of the Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 in Northern Ireland).[4][5]
The Trades Union Congress criticised the government for failing to extend the Authority's regime for gangmasters to sectors such as construction, hospitality and care work. It was estimated that at least 2 million workers were left out while UCATT, the building workers’ union, said that that one East European worker was paid only £8.80 for a 39-hour week.[1]
The GLA helpline (0845 602 5020) only provides for workers to report mistreatment and illegal pay rates in the GLA regulated sectors. The UK government has since set up the Pay and Work Rights Helpline (0800 917 2368) for all workers in the UK to report abuses.[1]