Industrial staffing firm Extrastaff has had its licence revoked by the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA).

Extrastaff had appealed the decision and was allowed  to continue to trade until a new licence application was considered.

The firm failed in their bid to get the licence reinstated and their licence was revoked on 18 May.

The GLA inspection found that worker files were missing details including the workers names, inadequate worker contracts, incomplete training records and an inadequate contract between the labour user and provider which did not stipulate who was responsible for worker health and safety.

Paul Whitehouse, chairman of the GLA, says: “This is a sorry case that wasted a lot of people’s time and inevitably a lot of money in legal costs. I hope Extrastaff learn lessons from this and that the non-compliances are not mirrored in sectors they supply to that are outside GLA regulation.”

Tim Millward, chairman at Extrastaff, says the firm is now considering a Judicial Review of the technical legal argument of whether the appeal should have been allowed to go ahead rather on the facts of the case itself.

Millward says: “Extrastaff has grown from scratch in 2003 to an award winning £10m business. Our whole ethos is based on high quality. Given the GLA’s entrenched position and the heavy legal team they employed, how Paul Whitehouse can complain about the legal fees he has cost us all or say they have acted proportionately is beyond me.

“I have been involved in business for over 20 years and have never had to deal with such a frustrating, illogical situation. It is hardly surprising the GLA claims to win 97% of appeals, given the bureaucratic and bullish stance they take. All our clients have an open invitation to inspect our systems and procedures.”