The Association of Labour Providers has spoken out strongly about aspects of the Gangmasters Licensing Act and other policy issues and is calling for the abolition of the Accession States Workers Registration Scheme as it believes it may encourage workers to stay in the informal economy. The association's chairman Mark Boleat criticises the scheme's purpose as being purely to count workers from the accession states and notes that its figures are inaccurate and inconsistent with other data. "The cost of registration has just increased from £50 to £70 which the association regards as unacceptable," said Boleat. "And the association has published a paper arguing for the abolition of the scheme and has asked the statistics commission to investigate the quality of the resulting statistics."
The association also has major concerns around the Gangmasters Licensing Act. "There is concern that the Gangmasters Licensing Authority will have onerous reporting requirements and will wish to check papers rather than concentrate on the substantive issues of abuse of workers, employment of illegal workers and tax evasion," said Boleat. "...The act will not achieve its desired objectives unless there is more effective enforcement of existing legislation by existing regulators, not only in the sector to be covered by the GLA but in the provision of labour generally. The act will achieve nothing if illegal operators simply transfer their activities to hospitality, construction or other sectors."
The ALP also warned that enforcement of the act is still lacking. ""Illegal gangmasters continue to thrive and in some parts of the country make it difficult for legal operators to compete," warned Boleat. "The tax authorities seem to concentrate their enforcement activity on those labour providers with comprehensive records to inspect rather than those operating on a cash basis."
Boleat also warned that his association will need to be better resourced if it is to carry out its role effectively in the future.
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