U.K. recruitment agency loses license after workers are found in debt bondage

Banyu (not his real name) lost his job in Bali at the beginning of the pandemic. So, when he heard of an organization recruiting workers for jobs abroad, he jumped at the opportunity. What began with a £550 English course soon turned into a complicated ordeal, trapping him and others in debt bondage of up to £5,000 owed to an unlicensed broker in Bali.

“I think about the debt”

The brokers initially told Banyu and his friends that the jobs would be in Australia, Canada, or New Zealand. However, after learning the jobs were in the U.K., the brokers flew them to Jakarta and billed them about £1,000 for a three-night stay. They also charged them for visas, flights, and various other fees, which totaled between £4,400 and £5,000.

On a video call, Banyu said to The Guardian:

“Now I’m working hard only to pay back that money,” … “Sometimes I get stressed. I cannot sleep sometimes. I have a family who need my support to eat. And meanwhile, I think about the debt.”

The job was to pick fruit at Clock House farm, which supplies strawberries, raspberries, and other soft fruit to supermarket chains. However, Banyu was only issued a six-month visa for the picking season. To make matters worse, Banyu struggled to pick fast enough, and he was on a zero-hours contract. According to the Guardian, the arrangement appeared to be contrary to the rules of his seasonal worker visa. It was only after The Guardian approached the farm that Banyu was given a 20-hour minimum weekly contract on hourly pay of £10.10.

Unscrupulous recruitment process

Banyu and his friends met Douglas Amesz, the managing director of AG Recruitment during their stay in Jakarta. AG, a licenced U.K. agency, had teamed up with Al Zubara Manpower, a Jakata recruitment agency, to source hundreds of workers for various farms in the U.K. Banyu and his friends say that Amesz warned them not to pay any extra fees because it was illegal, but the brokers had told them not to disclose what they had paid.

Banyu said:

“I think Mr Douglas doesn’t really know about how Al Zubara made a connection to other agencies like our agency,”

AG expressed concern about the allegations, and denied any wrongdoing, claiming they were cooperating with the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA). Amesz said that Al Zubara did not handle the recruitment, and that AG did not ask the agency to subcontract recruitment to other local organizations or brokers. It appears that Al Zubara used brokers on islands across the country to find workers quickly, but and investigation by the Indonesian ministry of labor confirmed that Al Zubara acted legally.

AG loses license to operate

AG was one of the largest suppliers of international labor to British agriculture. But after The Guardian revealed the story about Banyu and his friends in 2022, the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority launched an investigation. Last week, the GLAA revoked AG’s license for failing to “act in a fit and proper manner.” However, AG maintains they were found guilty of no wrongdoing and that the revocation resulted from a previous decision by the Home Office. Last year, the Home Office took away AG’s license over allegations that workers recruited by them had overstayed their visas.

Commenting on agricultural recruitment overseas, Amesz said:

“Indonesians, boy, oh boy, talk about corrupt. You know, eastern Europe’s corrupt. They’re all so corrupt. All the countries that we recruit from, there’s a high level of corruption and they just get better at it.”

A spokesperson for the GLAA said that a breach of its licensing standards can include violating any “requirements and standards of other regulatory authorities,” including U.K. Visas and Immigration.

Amesz would not comment on whether the workers had received compensation for the fees paid to the brokers. Andy Hall, a migrant rights specialist expressed concern that no one has received any remediation for vulnerable migrant victims and that retailers, farms scheme operators, and the government have not learned any lessons from the scandal. Join us in sending a clear signal to the private and public sectors that they will be held accountable for failing to prevent modern slavery and putting profit over people.