Forestry

Following the new exclusions regulations which came into force on 1 October 2013, there have been changes to how forestry is licensed in England, Scotland and Wales.

What has changed?

The Gangmasters Licensing (Exclusions) Regulations 2013 (the “2013 Regulations”) now excludes from licensing a person or business that uses a worker to provide a service to do forestry work.  The GLAA also does not require licence applications from anybody who supplies a worker to do forestry work. 

Forestry work means:

• All work directly related to the planting, establishing, maintaining or harvesting woodland or forests,
• Primary processing of timber within woodland, for example cutting wood into lengths, planks or firewood,
• Any kind of arboriculture work carried out on woodlands, and
• Fencing on woodlands or forests

The 2013 Regulations apply to work done in England, Scotland and Wales.  Separate regulations will be introduced for Northern Ireland.  Please note that GLAA licensing requirements for forestry still apply to work done in Northern Ireland until the necessary legislation is introduced.

Existing Forestry Licence Holders

All licence holders categorised as “forestry only” on the GLAA Public Register no longer need a licence.  The GLAA will be contacting those licence holders directly to cancel their licence.

This change will not apply to those licence holders categorised as operating in both forestry and other GLAA licensable activities in agriculture, horticultural, shellfish gathering and food and drink processing and packaging sectors.  Those businesses still need to be licensed.

Active Check Notifications

Labour users signed up to the GLAA’s Active Check system will receive a letter automatically when the licence they have registered against has been cancelled. Some labour users may have received notifications stating that the business has ‘ceased trading’, meaning they no longer operate in the GLAA sectors (as explained in GLA Brief 27, ‘Active Check Notifications’).  The active check alerts for forestry only businesses have now been amended so that it is clearer that the licence of the business concerned has been cancelled.

Further Guidance

If you would like any help or guidance, please email licensing@gla.gov.uk or telephone the GLAA helpline on 0845 602 5020.

Please note this guidance is intended as a supplement to the detailed legislation and does not provide an authoritative statement of the law.