Gangmasters Licensing Authority Chief Executive Paul Broadbent said he was "disappointed" the courts had failed to punish a group of 15 prominent UK dairy farms who "enabled the exploitation of workers by others" by employing Filipino herdsmen from an illegal labour provider.
 

The workers, all supplied through Christopher Blakeney, of Marden Management Ltd, received between £400 and £500 a month below the legal minimum wage. In some instances they were also housed in sub-standard accommodation - one farm provided accommodation that leaked and had previously been used by animals, Swindon Magistrates' Court was told on Friday afternoon.

All 15 defendants, who pleaded guilty to "using the services of an unlicensed gangmaster", were given an absolute discharge and ordered to pay £300 each towards costs by District Judge Simon Cooper. None were given fines for their part in the exploitation.

The case, which had been running for nearly three years, initially involved 21 farmers, including well known industry figures such as former NFU Vice-President Gwyn Jones. Some of the defendants were supported through court by the NFU's Legal Assistance Scheme.

In reaction to the result, Mr Broadbent said on Tuesday (12th February), "The GLA is disappointed in the outcome of these cases. This was by far the most serious example the authority has tackled exclusively, in terms of the intentional, well-organised and systematic financial exploitation of workers, but the punishment does not fully reflect that.

"I remain convinced the farmers in court were part of an exploitative enterprise, benefitting from well-qualified labour provided at a price that was 'too good to be true'… [and] if the price seems too good to be true then it probably is! The supplier in this case, Marden Management Ltd, was not licensed and was only able to provide experienced labour at such an attractively low rate because it was operating illegally ... as were all the farms that employed their workers."

On Friday, Brendon Moorhouse, prosecuting, told the court that the farms had all employed between one and five skilled herdsmen from the Philippines supplied through Blakeney's company, Marden Management. The workers, who had been subject to a bond through an agency in the Philippines, were also tied to Marden Management Ltd, having half of their first two months wages deducted with the promise of repayment only on completion of two years' work. They were allocated farms with accommodation and were also subjected to deductions of 'administrative charges' of £135 per month.

As a result of the low rates paid initially by the farmers and the subsequent deductions, the workers were all paid significantly below the legal minimum wage for their 60 hour, six-day week – up to £600 a month below in some cases.

Blakeney and Marden Management Ltd have both admitted trading as an unlicensed gangmaster in November and will be sentenced in April.

GLA's Mr Broadbent added, "The Gangmasters Licensing Act is abundantly clear. It is an offence to employ the services of an unlicensed labour provider. A two-minute call to the GLA, or check of the public register on our website, would have answered that question and prevented these people from breaking the law."