Partnership Bulletin - June 2025
Starting as the Gangmasters Licensing Authority, we were set up in 2005 to protect vulnerable and exploited workers in the fresh produce sector. We became the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority in 2017 when our remit was expanded, and are now responsible for preventing and investigating worker abuse and exploitation across the whole labour market in England and Wales.
Our CEO Elysia McCaffrey shares her thoughts as we mark 20 years of the GLAA.
On our 20 year anniversary page we have curated information and resources which tell our story and include some key cases we have investigated over the last 20 years.
Regulation
After a review of the licence fees, new fee levels were introduced on the 28th April this year. These fee levels apply to applicants and renewals.
As part of our focus on fees, we are introducing a new process to ensure licence holders are paying the correct level of fees. When you renew your licence we will ask you to declare your turnover in the licensable sector (not your whole business turnover) as this determines which fee band you should be in.
We will run a series of checks to ascertain if you have declared the correct level of turnover and are paying the right level of fees. If we consider that you are not in the correct fee band we will contact you. Please ensure that you respond if we contact you to make sure there is no risk of you losing your licence. There will be an opportunity to rectify this and pay any difference or to provide evidence to show that you have correctly stated the right turnover.
The GLAA appeals process
The GLAA appeals process is run by His Majesty's Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS).
You have the right to appeal against a GLAA decision to refuse an application for a licence, attach a condition to a licence, revoke a licence or refuse the transfer of a licence.
You can find more information about appeals on our Appeals page.
Important - Licensing Standard 1.3 is a Critical Standard
Some licence holders have not complied with the clear requirement that they must notify the GLAA within 20 working days when they start to supply workers into the regulated sector following the issue of a GLAA licence.
Compliance with this standard is easy to achieve, and we would ask licence holders to take care to avoid the unnecessary breach of this Licensing Standard which could result in the revocation of a licence.
New umbrella companies guidance
Newly published guidance for umbrella companies has been introduced by government. This new guidance:
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Addresses concerns that businesses, legal experts and others have consistently reported about umbrella companies.
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Is a major step forward, helping set the foundation for transparency and improving standards across the sector.
Read more on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/examples-of-good-practice-for-umbrella-companies-in-the-temporary-labour-market
You can also use the HMRC umbrella company tool which has been updated with 2025/26 rates and thresholds: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/work-out-pay-from-an-umbrella-company
Enforcement
GLAA colleagues complete central Asia trip with visit to Uzbekistan
In May, National Investigations Team managers Paul Williams and Neville Bradbury flew out to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, to meet with officials from the Uzbek Migration Agency.
Paul and Neville discussed how our work with the Uzbek government can continue to protect workers’ rights and prevent exploitation. They also discussed the Seasonal Work Scheme and how the GLAA supports workers who are enrolled in the scheme.
Discussing their recent trip, Paul and Neville said:
“Our recent trip to Uzbekistan emphasised the GLAA’s commitment to stop worker exploitation in high-risk areas like Uzbekistan. It was great to meet our partners in Uzbekistan and represent the GLAA on the global stage.
“The work we continue to carry out in this region protects migrants at risk to worker exploitation and fraud.”
You can hear more about their trip to Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan in our next online stakeholder meeting the details of which can be found below.
Join our next online meeting for stakeholders and partners
Once a quarter, we invite stakeholders from various backgrounds to come and listen to what the GLAA is seeing within the labour market and the regulatory framework and how together we can make changes and improvements to stop worker exploitation.
You could be a GLAA licence holder, supplying workers within our regulated sector. Or, you might be one of their clients, a labour user, who employs workers as part of your day-to-day business operations.
We also welcome those from connected trade associations, unions, NGOs and retailers as well as anyone else connected with the UK’s fresh produce supply chain.
Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 16 July 2025 at 11.00am where we will hear from colleagues from the Fair Work Agency Programme Team. To be added to the Stakeholder meeting mailing list or to suggest topics for future meetings, simply email us at communications@gla.gov.uk. Invitations to this meeting will be sent out in due course.
News
The GLAA is moving into the third and final year of our three year strategy and in May our CEO Elysia McCaffrey shared her thoughts about our 2024-25 performance in her stakeholder blog.
Industry leaders launch new hiring toolkit to support the hospitality sector with Better Hiring
The Better Hiring Institute has launched a free to use industry best practice Better Hiring Toolkit for the hospitality sector. It provides advice on how to hire quickly, fairly and safely and to tackle modern slavery in the hospitality sector.
The Toolkit has been created in collaboration with the GLAA, Institute of Hospitality, Disclosure Scotland, Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and Reed Screening to improve hiring.
Read more about the toolkit in our news section.
You can report your concerns to the GLAA by email at contact@gla.gov.uk or by using the online reporting form.
Alternatively, call the Modern Slavery and Exploitation Helpline on 0800 0121 700 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Thank you for taking the time to read our bulletin. If you would like to contribute content about your work in preventing/identifying labour abuse, you can email communications@gla.gov.uk.