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The authority was handed a remit of preventing the exploitation of workers in the fresh produce sector — agriculture, horticulture, shellfish gathering, and all associated processing and packaging.

Initially, the authority sat under the control of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) but on April 9 2014 it was switched to the control of the Home Office.

The Gangmasters (Licensing) Act 2004 established four specific offences:

Cockle picking bags washed up at Morecambe Bay.

*Operating as a gangmaster without a licence

*Obtaining or possessing a false licence or false documentation likely to cause another person to believe that a person acting as a gangmaster is licensed

*Entering into arrangements/using an unlicensed gangmaster

*Obstructing enforcement officers/compliance officers exercising their functions under the Act

Two empty buckets used by Chinese cockle pickers washed up by the sea at Morecambe Bay.

The fight to protect vulnerable and exploited workers was strengthened further when the GLA was reformed as the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) in May 2017, with powers to investigate modern slavery and labour exploitation across the wider labour market, and not just in its regulated sectors.

Specialist labour abuse prevention officers were recruited by the organisation, with almost 150 arrests made in the first 18 months of the GLAA.

Speaking in 2019, GLAA Head of Prevention Paul Elms, who was a Lancashire Police officer back in 2004, kept in touch with one of the survivors.

He said: “The tragedy will live with me for the rest of my life. It’s important to reflect on the devastating impact this disaster had, with so many young lives lost.

"Thankfully a lot of progress has been made with all of us doing our utmost to ensure a disaster like this will never happen again.

"The GLAA is fully committed to working in partnership with our colleagues in law enforcement, businesses, charities and the wider public to protect people who are at risk of exploitation.

"But we need your help if we are going to prevent serious labour abuse and exploitation.

"We need you to act and pick up the phone if you suspect someone is being exploited.

"Call our intelligence team on 0800 432 0804 or email [email protected].”

Morecambe cockling tragedy 20 years on: Gangmasters Licensing Authority set up in wake of disaster