GLAA Employee Login
GLAA
  • Report Problems: 0800 432 0804
  • General Office Enquiries: 0345 602 5020
  • Home
    • Licence renewals
    • Licensing Portal Login
    • Active Check Portal Login
  • Who We Are
    • What we do
    • GLA to GLAA: 20 year anniversary
    • Our Aims and Objectives
    • The GLAA Board
    • Legislation
    • Vacancies
    • Modern slavery
    • Freedom of Information
    • Press Releases
    • Better regulation
    • Our partners
    • Trade Union Facility Time 2023/24
    • Pay and work rights
  • What's New
    • Latest news
    • News Archive
    • Briefs and guidance
    • Freedom of information requests
    • Parliamentary Questions
    • GLAA Newsletters
  • Our Impact
    • Who has a GLAA licence
    • How we inspect and prosecute
    • Revocations results
    • Appeals against the GLAA
    • Criminal offences and sanctions
    • Intelligence Picture
    • Strategic Assessment
  • Publications
    • GLAA Publication Scheme
    • Resources
    • Licensing guidance
    • GLAA Brief and Licensing News
    • Legislation
    • Corporate Publications
    • Labour Exploitation
    • Code of practice on compliance, enforcement, labour market and modern slavery investigations
  • Contact Us
  • Report Issues
    • Is the GLAA the correct enforcement body for you?
    • English
    • Bulgarian
    • Latvian
    • Lithuanian
    • Polish
    • Portuguese
    • Romanian
    • Slovak
  • Information for workers
    • Worker Information
    • Workers' Rights Leaflets
    • Government Leaflets
    • What You Should Expect at Work
    • Who Else Can Help
    • Your rights
    • How we can help
    • eVisa - Moving to a digital proof of immigration status
  • Licence renewals
  • Licensing Portal Login
  • Active Check Portal Login
  • I supply workers
    • I need a GLAA licence
    • I have a GLAA licence
  • I use workers
    • Labour User Best Practice
    • Inspections and Investigations
    • Keep up to date with Licence Changes
    • Public Register Checks and Formal 'Active Check' Guidance
  • Licence fee review 2025
  • Home
  • What's New
  • Press Release Archive
  • Unlicensed gangmaster in Northern Ireland fined

Unlicensed gangmaster in Northern Ireland fined

24th January 2024

A man who illegally supplied workers to a food manufacturing company in Ballymena, Northern Ireland has been fined. 

Catalin Andrei Tabacaru, 40, of Ballymena in County Antrim, initially pleaded not guilty to the charge of acting as an unlicensed gangmaster at Antrim Crown Court but after a further court appearance in November 2023 he changed his plea to one of guilty.

He appeared at the same court on 23 January 2024 where he was fined £8,000.

Following reports made to the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) in September 2021 enquiries revealed that a number of Romanian workers were being brought in to work in the food processing sector. Further enquiries found that Tabacaru, the owner of Andy’s Recruitment Agency, had been supplying workers without a GLAA licence.

Tabacaru told the company that he held a GLAA licence and began supplying workers in the full knowledge that he required a licence to do so.

GLAA Senior Enforcement Investigator Mark Arlow said “Anyone supplying workers into the GLAA regulated sectors of agriculture, horticulture, shellfish gathering and associated processing and packaging must have a GLAA licence.

“We are committed to taking action against unlicensed gangmasters who ignore our regulations. We would also remind labour users to ensure they do their due diligence before entering into arrangements with unlicensed gangmasters and falling the wrong side of the law”.

Acting as a gangmaster without a GLAA licence is a criminal offence carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and an unlimited fine. 

It is also an offence to use labour provided by unlicensed gangmasters. This offence carries a maximum penalty of six months in prison and a fine. You can check if a labour provider has a GLAA licence via our public register.

Anyone with information about unlicensed gangmasters operating in the regulated sectors should contact the GLAA by emailing intelligence@gla.gov.uk or by using the online reporting form.

Click here to return to the top of the page

© 2025 Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority

  • Privacy & Cookies
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Accessibility
  • Sitemap

Powered by 10 Digital