Agency that recruited indebted farmworkers has licence revoked

A British recruitment agency that brought to the UK Indonesian farmworkers who had debts of thousands of pounds to foreign brokers has had its licence revoked by the labour exploitation watchdog.

- Emily Dugan

AG Recruitment was once the largest supplier of international labour to British agriculture, bringing more than 1,450 Indonesians to pick fruit to supply British supermarkets in 2022.

Following revelations in the Guardian that workers supplied by AG had taken on debts of up to £5,000 after paying unlicensed third parties in Indonesia, the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) announced an investigation. AG said it had known nothing about charging by third parties and had warned workers not to pay for jobs.

More than two years after the GLAA investigation was announced, its findings have still not been published. It said on Tuesday that it had stripped AG of its licence for failing to "act in a fit and proper manner".

AG said the investigation had cleared them of wrongdoing and that the licence was revoked because of a previous decision by the Home Office. Last year the Home Office took away AG's licence to operate as a seasonal worker sponsor over allegations that workers recruited by them had overstayed their visas.