Mark Boleat, chairman of the Association of Labour Providers, says that the practices of vegetable supplier Bomfords had been under scrutiny for some time before the recent action by the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) against seven of its labour providers.

In a letter published in full in Friday’s FPJ, Boleat said: “The GLA action should be a warning to labour providers that they must not only be licensed but must also continually comply with the licensing conditions.

“However, the real significance of the GLA action has been largely missed. The GLA action was targeted not at labour providers but rather at a labour user, Bomfords.

“It has been well known for some time that Bomfords has paid a rate that has not enabled labour providers to comply with legal requirements. For more than two years the ALP has been urging both HMRC and the GLA to target labour users known to be paying an unrealistically low rate. It first drew Bomfords to the attention of HMRC in April 2005 and has repeated its concerns to both HMRC and the GLA on a number of occasions subsequently.

“Labour providers have reported to the ALP that Bomfords paid just £6.10 per hour.

“With the national minimum wage at its current level, labour users must pay a rate of £6.20 per hour (£6.50 for agricultural workers) just to cover the wage, Employer’s National Insurance and statutory holiday entitlement. Overhead and transport costs increase this figure to around £7.00 (£7.30 for agricultural workers). This figure still makes no allowance for labour provider management time or profit.”

To read the full letter, read this week’s FPJ.

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