GLAA licence reference checking — documented compliance for licensed labour providers

GLAA licensing and reference checking obligations

The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority licenses labour providers supplying workers into agriculture, horticulture, shellfish gathering, food processing and packaging sectors. GLAA licence conditions require licensed providers to conduct adequate background checking on the workers they supply — including employment references that verify previous work history and conduct. The GLAA expects to see documented evidence of this background checking as part of licence compliance reviews and enforcement inspections. An agency that cannot produce documented reference evidence for its workers faces compliance findings that can affect licence status.

What GLAA expects from reference documentation

GLAA compliance in reference checking means documented evidence that: employment references were requested from appropriate referees for each worker supplied; candidate consent was obtained before referee contact; written reference responses were obtained and retained; and the reference process was completed before the worker was first supplied to a licensable establishment. RefAssure generates all of this documentation automatically — the same PDF that satisfies client site compliance requirements also satisfies GLAA background checking documentation obligations. One automated process, multiple compliance frameworks satisfied.

For agencies operating GLAA licences across food processing and agricultural supply chains, RefAssure's credits-never-expire model accommodates the seasonal demand patterns of these sectors. Buy credits before the harvest season or food production peak and use them as needed throughout — no expiry pressure, no wasted subscription spend in quiet months. From 99p per reference.