Gangmasters Licensing Authority to have wider scope and cover construction

The government has published its response to its consultation last year on strengthening regulation of the labour market, which includes plans to expand the remit of the existing Gangmasters Licensing Authority to all employment sectors – including the construction industry.

The Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) is to be reformed and renamed the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA), which the government says will have stronger powers to deal with labour exploitation wherever it is found. 

Along with being given police-style enforcement powers in England and Wales, the reformed GLAA’s powers will be extended “across wider labour sectors”, to allow the body to have powers across all sectors, including construction. 

The consultation, “Tackling Exploitation in the Labour Market”, received 93 responses from a range of bodies including the CIOB, charities, labour providers and statutory organisations.

The government has announced that it will implement all four of the proposals contained within the consultation, including a plan to create the new role of director of labour market enforcement to set the strategic priorities for labour market enforcement bodies.

It will also create a new offence of “aggravated breach of labour market legislation”, and will allow data sharing between this director, the labour market enforcement bodies and other bodies within the intelligence community.

However, construction union UCATT condemned the proposals, arguing that although the government’s proposal may increase the number of sectors of the economy where the GLAA will operate, the proposals may also relax the licensing powers of the organisation.

However, a spokesman from the Home Office denied that the GLAA would have decreased powers.

A statement from the union reads: “While UCATT has long called for the extension of the Gangmasters Act to cover the construction industry, this was on the basis of the existing licensing system, which prevents exploitative agencies supplying labour in the first place and means that companies found to be mistreating workers can be swiftly stripped of their licence.

“A more flexible licence system is unlikely to create a crackdown on the unfair treatment of workers that the construction industry is crying out for.”

Brian Rye, acting general secretary of UCATT, said: “This proposal is a craven attempt to release employment agencies from the obligation of treating workers fairly. For flexible licensing read ‘look the other way’.”

Of the respondents to the consultation, 67% agreed with the government’s proposal to expand the role of the authority, and 70% of the respondents to the consultation agree that the new GLAA should have the power to investigate offences across all sectors of the labour market.

Along with the reform of the GLA, the main change will be the creation of the director of labour market enforcement role. The director’s remit will stretch across the whole of the labour market – including direct employment as well as labour providers – and the whole of the spectrum of non-compliance, from accidental infringement to serious criminality.

As set out in the Immigration Bill, the director will produce an annual Labour Market Enforcement strategy which will set the annual priorities for the work of enforcement bodies.

However, in its consultation response, the CIOB had reservations on this point, answering “not sure” to this question. It said: “The CIOB is supportive of measures designed to increase transparency and reduce the risk of exploitation across the labour market. However, we are clear that some sectors – particularly those where minors are deemed to be at increased risk of exploitation, will likely require additional measures.”

Sajid Savid, secretary of state for business, innovation and skills, said that the director “will help us to bring much-needed coordination to the enforcement of labour market legislation, and an evidence-based annual labour market enforcement strategy will ensure that enforcement efforts are targeted where the risk of non-compliance is greatest.

“And it’s not just workers who will benefit – if they’re not being undercut by unfair, illegal competition, responsible businesses will be able to grow faster and create more jobs.”