GLA revokes ‘worst ever’ agency’s licence claiming foul on appeal delay
5 November 2013
A West Midlands labour agency has had its Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) licence revoked on appeal 10 months after scoring nine times the number of penalty points allowed before licences are taken away.
Tue, 5 Nov 2013A West Midlands labour agency has had its Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) licence revoked on appeal 10 months after scoring nine times the number of penalty points allowed before licences are taken away.
However, the company in question had remained trading since January’s initial damning inspection while its appeal went through, making it “a perfect example of how the current appeals process can be abused”, according to GLA chief executive officer Paul Broadbent.
In January, Lloyds Management was found to have failed a total of 14 licensing standards – seven of which were deemed ‘critical standards’. Any single critical standard failing results in an immediate revocation, as does any inspection score totalling more than 30 points. Lloyds scored 266.
But the company, which supplied workers to pick and harvest in farms in Lincolnshire and Worcestershire, did not have its licence revoked with immediate effect, giving director Prem Singh Johal the opportunity to continue trading while he appealed the decision.
Yet Johal offered no evidence in his defence, merely seeking to delay the appeal hearing, Broadbent says, in a clear attempt to “play the system”.
Broadbent adds: “We need to take a long, hard look at our appeals system and investigate how the GLA might be permitted to recover costs from those who exploit the system for profit.”
Asked why a company scoring an all-time record score on its inspection did not see its licence stripped with immediate effect, a GLA spokesperson tells recruiter.co.uk that when the GLA “thinks there’s any hope”, they will give organisations an opportunity to “put their house in order”, something that has happened in previous cases.
The GLA will always err on the side of trying to get a business time to become “decent and compliant rather than just shutting them down”, the spokesperson continues, also adding that immediate revocation can also be applied if worker exploitation is seen to be particularly bad, which it was not in this case, although adding that overall, this case was “borderline”.
The GLA reports that Judge David Perry said in his written verdict: “I am of the view that Mr Johal had little grasp of what is required of him as a principal, indeed he admitted as much.”
This comes after the GLA was in rather less ebullient mood as it reported the rejection of another gangmaster Cornwall Recruitment's appeal against the stripping of its licence.
It also follows a busy October for the GLA in which a joint investigation with the police saw several arrests and licence suspensions in East Anglia, while it lent its support to two separate campaigns against so-called modern day slavery.
However, the company in question had remained trading since January’s initial damning inspection while its appeal went through, making it “a perfect example of how the current appeals process can be abused”, according to GLA chief executive officer Paul Broadbent.
In January, Lloyds Management was found to have failed a total of 14 licensing standards – seven of which were deemed ‘critical standards’. Any single critical standard failing results in an immediate revocation, as does any inspection score totalling more than 30 points. Lloyds scored 266.
But the company, which supplied workers to pick and harvest in farms in Lincolnshire and Worcestershire, did not have its licence revoked with immediate effect, giving director Prem Singh Johal the opportunity to continue trading while he appealed the decision.
Yet Johal offered no evidence in his defence, merely seeking to delay the appeal hearing, Broadbent says, in a clear attempt to “play the system”.
Broadbent adds: “We need to take a long, hard look at our appeals system and investigate how the GLA might be permitted to recover costs from those who exploit the system for profit.”
Asked why a company scoring an all-time record score on its inspection did not see its licence stripped with immediate effect, a GLA spokesperson tells recruiter.co.uk that when the GLA “thinks there’s any hope”, they will give organisations an opportunity to “put their house in order”, something that has happened in previous cases.
The GLA will always err on the side of trying to get a business time to become “decent and compliant rather than just shutting them down”, the spokesperson continues, also adding that immediate revocation can also be applied if worker exploitation is seen to be particularly bad, which it was not in this case, although adding that overall, this case was “borderline”.
The GLA reports that Judge David Perry said in his written verdict: “I am of the view that Mr Johal had little grasp of what is required of him as a principal, indeed he admitted as much.”
This comes after the GLA was in rather less ebullient mood as it reported the rejection of another gangmaster Cornwall Recruitment's appeal against the stripping of its licence.
It also follows a busy October for the GLA in which a joint investigation with the police saw several arrests and licence suspensions in East Anglia, while it lent its support to two separate campaigns against so-called modern day slavery.
