GLAA Business Plan 23-24
A pdf version of this page can be found via the link below.
Foreword
This business plan covers year one of our new strategy and sets out the key deliverables we must achieve to help us implement it successfully.
Elysia came into post in June 2021 and Julia in November of that year. Since then, we have celebrated some excellent results, but also identified the need to refocus on our core purpose and improve performance in some important areas of business.
As a result, the organisation is going through a period of substantial change, including developing a new target operating model, upgrading core systems, and reshaping how we are led and governed.
Our core purpose is to regulate high-risk sectors where exploitation can occur. Over the coming year we will focus on developing and improving our work as a regulator. Key goals include to improve the timeliness of licensing decisions and compliance inspections. In addition, we are developing a new approach to identify and address high-risk licence holders. This work will be supported by our enforcement teams, to ensure we are as effective as possible in the areas we can make the biggest difference – based on evidence.
A critical part of our development is to implement our new target operating model. It brings important changes to the way we work and is designed to maximise our capacity and capability so that we can be as effective and efficient as possible.
Consequently, achieving our targets and outcomes this year will be fundamental to being able to deliver our strategy in years two and three. We are building solid foundations for our organisation to flourish and fulfil our mission to stop the exploitation of workers in the UK and to ensure employers treat them fairly.
Finally, we cannot do this work without the support of our people and partners. We would like to thank them for their forbearance, support and commitment to the work of the GLAA as we navigate this period of significant change.
Executive Summary
This business plan outlines our goals for the 2023-24 financial year. This is the first year working towards delivering our new three-year strategy. Our first priority is to implement a new operating model following an extensive review of the organisation, which took place last financial year.
The new operating model will transform the way we work, improve our future effectiveness and develop our organisational culture. A key aspect of this will focus on our core capabilities, capacity and how we need to resource our work in line with our strategic goals. This work will help us be a more effective and efficient organisation that delivers its goals.
The evidence base informing our strategy showed that we need to refocus, improve and enhance our work as a regulator. Specifically, we need to improve our productivity, timeliness, and the robustness of our regulation. This business plan centres on implementing change in the organisation this year, to ensure we are in the best possible place to achieve our goals.
Our mission is to stop the exploitation of workers in the UK and to ensure employers treat them fairly.
On 5 February 2004, 21 people drowned picking cockles in Morecambe Bay. They had been trafficked into the country illegally and hired out to gather shellfish by local criminal gangs.
The Gangmasters Licensing Authority was set up in the aftermath of this tragedy to regulate people and companies supplying workers to the food industry, and to prevent anything similar from happening again.
This original purpose remains fundamental and continues to drive our operations today, as we strive to protect vulnerable workers.
In 2016, Parliament expanded our remit and changed our name. We were granted police-like enforcement powers to deal with serious worker exploitation, including modern-day slavery.
As the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA), our work has three principal strands:
- we are a regulator
- we prevent worker abuse
- we investigate the exploitation of people for their labour.
To fulfil our mission, we have close partnerships with a wide range of agencies, including the National Minimum Wage Team at His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate (EAS) and UK law enforcement, including the National Crime Agency (NCA).
The Director of Labour Market Enforcement (DLME) also sets strategic priorities for labour market enforcement bodies, which informs our own strategic direction.
We are operationally independent of government as an Arm’s Length Body of the Home Office, held to account by a board of independent Non-executive Directors and Chair. The Board sets and oversees the delivery of our business plan and strategy, our performance and governance. The GLAA is led by our Chief Executive Officer and Senior Leadership Team. We have 116 colleagues, working in teams around the UK with headquarters in Nottingham.
The GLAA ensures that workers in the UK are treated fairly, and that worker exploitation is stopped.
We have three core functions:
- Regulation - We regulate businesses that provide workers to the horticulture and fresh produce Anyone wanting to supply workers to these markets must have a GLAA licence to operate. Our regulated sectors are agriculture, horticulture, shellfish gathering, food and food packaging and processing. It is a criminal offence to supply workers without a GLAA licence or use an unlicensed labour provider. Our regulatory work includes operating a licensing scheme, undertaking inspections to ensure compliance with that scheme, and taking enforcement action where there are breaches.
- Prevention – Our prevention work is an important part of our plan to stop worker exploitation in the UK. We currently work with a broad range of stakeholders locally, nationally, and internationally to help prevent workers from being exploited. Partners include other government agencies, but also a network of specialist charities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Prevention is also embedded into our enforcement work as we disrupt criminal activities and intervene in situations where workers may be at risk of abuse. Our prevention activities are diverse and extend beyond our regulated sectors, as we work in other high-risk sectors that rely on a temporary, low paid and often migrant workforce.
- Enforcement - We investigate allegations of worker abuse under the Modern Slavery Act 2015. GLAA Officers can conduct civil and criminal investigations and take enforcement action, including prosecutions and court orders to disrupt criminal activity. We also support victims who have been abused, in particular by ensuring they can access specialist help from our partners. We do not have modern slavery enforcement powers in Northern Ireland and Scotland, this work remains with the Police in those areas, but our regulation scheme operates UK-wide. We have fostered close working relationships with our enforcement partners across the whole of the UK where we are able to jointly visit locations and make the best use of the powers that we collectively have, to disrupt and deter criminal activity.
Our values underpin everything we do. They were developed in collaboration with GLAA colleagues and set the culture and behaviours we expect from each other. We expect our people to champion these values both internally and with external stakeholders.
- Integrity - We are honest, trustworthy and responsible.
- Respect - We are a friendly and inclusive team who openly help each other and understand we are working towards the same goal.
- Teamwork - We work in collaboration to achieve common goals efficiently and effectively.
- Professionalism - We work productively with passion and pride to achieve the goals of the GLAA.
- Commitment - We are engaged with the aims of the GLAA and dedicated to protecting vulnerable workers.