Merseyside-based gangmaster Cartwright Employment lost its appeal against the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA), after its licence was revoked.

The appeal found that there was no evidence to counter the GLA’s findings, according to the body. The licence was revoked after the GLA found six “major” breaches had taken place, including no evidence of income tax and national insurance contributions, that the workers had been given pay slips, the times and days which had been worked and that contracts had been issued. 

Paul Whitehouse, chairman of the GLA, says: “The lack of evidence provided is damning and raises questions about exactly what the workers were paid, how much money is owed to the taxman and exactly how the workers were treated.”