A 38-year-old man has been prevented from supplying workers without a licence following investigations by the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) in Devon.
The man, a Romanian national living in Sidmouth, has been served with a Labour Market Enforcement Undertaking (LMEU) after providing labour to food processing factories through a recruitment agency.
The LMEU has been signed and will remain in place for one year.
LMEUs were introduced as part of the Immigration Act in November 2016 and can be imposed when someone breaches the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act, the National Minimum Wage Act or the Employment Agencies Act.
A LMEU is an agreement by the non-compliant person, or business, with one of the enforcing authorities on what they will do to restore and maintain compliancewith the relevant act. It can be removed if compliance is achieved.
The GLAA currently has 15 active LMEUs, as well as the UK's first Labour Market Enforcement Order (LMEO) for a couple who supplied workers to food factories in Leicester without a licence. LMEOs can be applied for if the person or business does not agree to a LMEU within 14 days.
GLAA director of operations Ian Waterfield said: 'Our responsibility is to protect vulnerable and exploited workers. Suspected unlicensed activity in our regulated sectors is something we will not tolerate.
'Where we have reason to believe an individual is not complying with our licensing regime, we will act to ensure they follow the regulations.'
If you suspect someone has been exploited, contact the GLAA's intelligence team on 0800 4320804 or emailintelligence@gla.gov.uk.
