Kerrier District Council is a largely agricultural district in Cornwall. Employers rely increasingly on migrant workers to fill labour shortages in agriculture, food processing and hospitality. An estimated 3,000-4,000 foreign workers are now living in the area, mainly on site in caravans.
At the start of 2005, the Council began to receive complaints from the public about unauthorised sites. In March 2005, the Council set up a migrant worker action group (MIGWAG) including officers from local police, fire and probation services, HM Revenues and Customs and council staff from environmental health, housing, planning, community safety, benefits and the legal team.
The group developed six objectives around:
- Establishing numbers of migrants and where they are living
- Inspecting accommodation to ensure acceptable standards of living are reached
- Eliminating abuse and exploitation by gangmasters
- Promoting good practice by employers
- Increasing inclusion by removing barriers to accessing
- Developing a strategy and action plan
Successful enforcement action
The group set up a joint database of sites, properties and numbers of caravans and occupants, updated by visits or complaints. This was used to identify priorities for inspection and to help establish numbers. Currently, 27 sites, including 6 houses in multiple occupation, are in the database.
Two warrants were obtained for an early morning inspection of a site of particular concern. The 1990 Environmental Protection Act (EPA) as well as the Housing Act 1985 were used, allowing both permanent buildings and caravans to be inspected on sites.
Officers from environmental health, housing, the senior council management team, the fire service and the police, accompanied by Polish and Russian interpreters, arrived unannounced. A questionnaire was distributed to all occupants, asking how much rent and tax individuals were paying, and questions about health and safety conditions. Details were fed into the database. Media reports highlighted the need to secure the welfare of legal workers, who support the Cornish economy.
The operation led to 11 abatement notices under the EPA 1990 requiring the site owner to improve living conditions, which covered spacing between caravans, damp bedding, overcrowded conditions, lack of fire precautions and a lack of heating. A recent inspection has revealed that standards have improved to an acceptable level.
Poor employment practices were uncovered: contracts of employment, staff handbooks and safety regulations had only been supplied in English, which most workers could not read. Polish police were given information from the questionnaires, enabling them to close down a recruitment agency in Poland that had exploited people seeking to work in the UK.
Local improvements in standards
Six more low-key joint inspections followed, and one further abatement notice was issued. Letters with guidance about standards have gone to all site owners, promising an inspection within the year. Site owners have started to raise standards in advance.
An interim policy will allow temporary permissions for caravan sites on farms as long as minimum conditions are met. A policy on these lines will be introduced in the new Local Development Framework that will replace the old local plan. The Council is investigating the adoption of bye-laws under the 1936 Public Health Act to set minimum standards for temporary accommodation for travelling agricultural workers.
Links to wider partner activity in Cornwall and the Local Area Agreement
The partner organisations in MIGWAG all belong to a Migrant Worker Task Group of the Cornwall Strategic Partnership. Work so far has included a welcome pack in four key languages, compiled with the help of students in college English courses.
Cornwall and Devon police are developing an employer ‘kite-marking’ scheme named ’The Responsible Employer Scheme‘ to label those who meet employment and wider driving and accommodation and support standards. The Local Area Agreement for Cornwall includes reducing social exclusion for migrant workers as an agreed outcome under stronger communities.