REC welcomes new appointments to Gangmasters licensing authority

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) has given its support to Paul Whitehouse and Michael Wilson, who have been appointed as Chairman and Chief Executive respectively of the new Gangmasters Licensing Authority. The watchdog body formally starts work on 1 April 2005, and will give much-needed regulation to the activity of gangmasters who supply workers to farms, agricultural and shellfish businesses as well as to related packaging and processing activity.

As the representative body for the UK recruitment industry, the REC is working closely with Government, particularly the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU), to address illegal gangmaster activity and is directly involved in the implementation of the gangmaster licensing regulations which come into force at the beginning of April.

The new regulations will also make it an offence for employers to use unlicensed labour providers in the areas listed above. As a result the regulations should be of direct interest to all private sector companies and public sector organisations that use temporary workers in these areas and in related packaging and processing activities. The aims of the regulations have been endorsed by a number of leading employers, in particular a number of the leading supermarket chains.

Gareth Osborne, Managing Director of the REC said: ìIt is extremely important to make a clear distinction between illegal gangmasters and the reputable employment businesses and agencies that comply with Government regulations and industry codes of conduct. Illegal gangmasters routinely flout all employment and tax regulations, often using threats and intimidation against those operating lawfully.î

ìThe key to addressing illegal gangmaster activity in the UK and across Europe is to allocate sufficient resources to the effective enforcement of current regulations, and to ensure that employers use only reputable recruitment agencies and labour providers.î

All employment agencies and businesses in the UK must already operate in compliance with the Employment Agencies Act 1973 and the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Business Regulations 2003. The key issue for the new gangmaster regulations will be to ensure that enough resources are allocated to really make a difference and to address the activities of illegal gangmasters which distort the market and put individual workers at risk.