Southern England Farms, which was named on Wednesday as a user of labour indirectly sourced from a gangmaster operating illegaly, told freshinfo it has acted entirely properly and within the law at all times.
Through its legitimate labour provider Elite Labour Services, SEF was one of a number of farms using Bulgarian workers subcontracted from Baltic Work Team, the gangmaster that had its licence revoked with immediate effect by the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) this week.
Greville Richards of Southern England Farms said: “As a responsible employer we deplore how Baltic Work Team has treated its staff and were shocked to learn of the allegations.
“Like many growers we source seasonal workers through labour providers but always make sure that that they have a GLA licence. Baltic Work Team were subcontracted by our usual provider and as soon as we became aware of their presence in our supply chain we checked their status with the GLA. This check confirmed that they were licensed but made no mention of the ongoing investigation into them by the GLA.”
Redruth-based BWT’s licence was revoked after workers in cauliflower and courgette fields were reported to be scavenging for food. It is only the second time the GLA has deemed a case serious enough to revoke with immediate effect, saying the actions of BWT posed a “significant threat to health and welfare of 40 Bulgarian workers”
The workers had not been paid for more than a month and had also allegedly been forced to make illicit payments to BWT.
BWT had been under the GLA microscope, having already had its licence revoked without immediate effect and was trading pending an appeal hearing, which was due on August 24.
“Baltic must stop trading immediately, I find it incredulous that a business who had been given the chance at the appeal hearing to put their house in order and re-apply for a new licence would not take this opportunity,” said GLA chairman Paul Whitehouse.
“Once we were aware we severed all links with the company and helped the GLA to calculate how much the workers employed on our behalf had been short-changed by BWT so that they could be reimbursed,” said Richards. “The GLA have now written to our customers thanking SEF for the role that we have played in this investigation.”
SEF told freshinfo it carried out checks “over and above the official guidance for labour users and yet still we did not uncover evidence of the alleged mistreatment by BWT.
“If there is anything to be learned from this episode it is most certainly buyer beware,” said Richards.
