Lincolnshire-based labour provider AAA Personnel Ltd has become the first company in the region to have its licence revoked by the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA).
The Spalding firm, which was registered as providing labour to the agricultural, horticultural, food processing and packing sectors, was stripped of its licence on March 26 after it failed “fit and proper” checks carried out by the GLA in January.
The 20-day time period to appeal against the initial decision to revoke the licence has now expired.
GLA chief executive Mike Wilson said: “It is important that labour providers realise that getting a licence is not the end of the story. To keep that licence, they have to demonstrate continuing compliance. And if the GLA receives intelligence suggesting that labour providers are no longer compliant or that principals in the business are no longer ‘fit and proper’ to hold a licence, they are likely to be inspected and their licence revoked.”
He added that the GLA will continue to seek out labour providers operating without a licence and warned that licence-holders need to maintain their standards.
The GLA launched its first operation in Scotland, with the power to spot check gangmasters in Perthshire, Angus and Aberdeenshire, on Tuesday.
GLA officers are checking the farms and fields to see if any unlicensed gangmasters are operating in the region and ensuring any licensed gangmasters are meeting the set standards.
Wilson said: “This is the first of continuing checks that will be carried out in Scotland. There are already 70 licensed labour providers in Scotland, but we believe there are still a lot of unlicensed providers out there and this sort of operation is aimed at finding and prosecuting them.”
