Calls to regulate all agencies

A comprehensive licensing scheme which regulates all employment agencies "is now a must" the TUC said on the eve of last month's implementation of new licensing rules for gangmasters.

The TUC welcomed a change in legislation which now means that all gangmasters and employment agencies supplying people for work in agriculture and food processing are required to have a licence. And from the end of the year companies taking on workers from an unlicensed gangmaster could be open to prosecution.

It described the move as "key to weeding out the cowboys who seek to exploit vulnerable workers". However, there is concern that a licensing scheme covering only the farming and food sectors would merely see unscrupulous labour suppliers moving into other sectors - such as cleaning, construction and hospitality - where there are no such restrictions.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said licensing of all labour suppliers in farming and food processing should make a real difference but added that "our fear is that the cowboys will simply set up shop in other parts of the economy".

He called for a comprehensive licensing scheme covering all employment agencies saying this would improve working conditions for thousands of vulnerable workers and make it harder for rogue operators to undercut decent employment agencies (see the feature "How to find the hidden workers" elsewhere in this issue).