100 more Leicester factories to be inspected in modern day slavery probe – Leicestershire Live

The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority has said there are still 100 factories it intends to visit in the coming months as part of its investigation into allegations on modern day slavery in citys textile trade.

The watchdog is leading Operation Tacit, a probe into alleged exploitation in the sector triggered by a raft of newspaper stories last year suggesting workers were being abused, poorly paid and pressed into meeting orders in substandard premises.

As previously reported by LeicestershireLive, officials from Operation Tacit have visited more than 220 garment factories in the city since last August and said, while they found some evidence of workers not being paid the minimum wage, they had so far not discovered anything that met the legal definition of modern day slavery.

However the GLLAs head of enforcement Ian Waterfield has said the probe is far from over and he expected there would be prosecutions for offences, other than modern day slavery, before Operation Tacit ceases at the end of the summer.

He told a Leicester City Council meeting this week: We are visiting factory premises at least three days a week in Leicester.

These are a mixture of engagement visits to encourage them to be better and also enforcement.

He told councillors there were still 100 premises Operation Tacit, which has involved the National Crime Agency, wanted to take a look at based on intelligence suggesting there may be issues like VAT fraud,

He said: We have not found endemic levels of underpayment of national minimum wage or endemic unsafe working conditions.

But we have found some issues around the underpayment of minimum wage and the safety of working conditions and other health and safety issues and we have identified elements of financial fraud attached to VAT.

What we really haven't found is what the media were portraying.

He said there had been two solid leads suggesting modern slavery was occurring at businesses but when investigators scratched under the surface and spoke to workers the issues were around the underpayment of wages.

Mr Waterfield said cases of a failure to pay minimum wage would be passed on to HMRC for potential further action.

He said that in 16 per cent of visits to Leicester factories issues of concern were raised but that was not a higher rate than would be found in other industries like hand car washing and construction.

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Mr Waterfield said some of the GLAA work was now focused on helping firms who had been dropped by large fashion brands like Boohoo over concerns about poor practice in their supply chains.

He added: We want to weed out the unscrupulous employers but we want a vibrant sector.

He said: What we have found is not isolated to Leicester. Its the same in Manchester. Its the same in Birmingham.

The city council has stressed it felt the garment trade in the city had been unfairly portrayed by the media last summer - particularly after headlines suggesting squalid, cramped working conditions in Leicester textile workshops were a factor in the Covid-19 spike that plunged the city into the UKs first local lockdown.

It has said the city was besieged by headlines which have not been supported by facts.

However opposition Liberal Democrat councillor Nigel Porter accused the council of putting on a blindfold.

He said: Theres a gap between what most sensible people see and the council.

Forced labour does exist in Leicester and the Labour council has put on a set of rose-tinted spectacles and for whatever reason is unwilling to acknowledge or accept there is a problem still.

He added: Just because you have not been able to locate it does not mean it does not exist.

Deputy city mayor councillor Adam Clarke accused Coun Porter of talking rubbish and failing to listen to what the GLAA had said.

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100 more Leicester factories to be inspected in modern day slavery probe - Leicestershire Live