“Agency that brought heavily indebted Indonesian workers to UK loses licence”

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

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.

After 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AG said the investigation had cleared it of wrongdoing and that the licence was revoked because of a previous decision by the Home Office…

Douglas Amesz, AG’s managing director, said of the GLAA investigation: “They found nothing. It took a very long time, and it was very detailed. There was no wrongdoing.”…