ARCA names 11 agencies for 2026 Gold Labour Agency Award, up from eight

The Asbestos Removal Contractors Association (ARCA) has named 11 labour agencies as winners of its Gold Labour Agency Award for 2026, three more than the eight recognised when the award was announced in October 2025.

ARCA announced the 2026 winners on 19 October. The association said the award recognises labour agencies that show commitment to high standards and best practice, proven through office audits carried out as part of their ARCA membership.

Three of the 2026 winners, Azzy Book Ltd, CCT Demolition Ltd and MK Environmental Recruitment Ltd, did not appear on the 2025 list. The other eight all held the award in 2025.

The full 2026 list, as ARCA gives it, is: Azzy Book Ltd, CCT Demolition Ltd, DKF Recruitment Ltd, Goldmills Recruitment Ltd, ITS Asbestos Ltd, J&L Recruitment Ltd, LP Search Ltd, Mech Tech Professionals Ltd, MK Environmental Recruitment Ltd, Tradecall Recruitment Ltd and Tradeslink Asbestos Services Ltd.

Year	Gold Labour Agency Award winners
2025	8
2026	11

ARCA did not say how many members were audited in either year, so the share of members achieving the award is not known.

The membership regime

ARCA runs a Labour Supply Member category, which the association describes as being for companies that supply operative labour to the licensed asbestos removal industry. ARCA said it sets strict conditions of membership for all applicants to ensure high standards are achieved and maintained.

The office audits behind the labour agency award run alongside a separate site audit regime for removal contractors. According to ARCA, its asbestos removal contractor members now need to pass four, rather than three, satisfactory unannounced site audits each year. Members can also achieve Gold Site Audit and Gold Training Awards.

Two of this year's labour agency winners have previously held the training award. DKF Recruitment Ltd and Goldmills Recruitment Ltd received ARCA's Gold Training Award in October 2024. That award required training eight or more operatives and/or supervisors through ARCA courses between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024, with an average score of 92.5% or higher.

Rating agency labour

Labour quality has been a stated concern within the association for some years. On 1 September 2020 ARCA launched the Asbestos Labour Feedback App (ALFA), which allows member contractors to rate the performance and behaviour of operatives supplied by ARCA labour supply members. The app lets contractors rate short-term operatives across nine categories.

At the 2020 launch, Jason Davy, Chairman of ARCA, said of the association's members that "many have told us that their biggest issue is the quality of labour".

Davy said at the same time that ARCA's membership covered virtually half of all licensed asbestos removal contractors in the UK, a figure that dates from 2020.

ARCA was formed on 1 July 1980 to support asbestos removal contractors in the UK. It started with four founder members and now has members in all UK regions and in the Republic of Ireland.

The 2025 awards were announced on 15 October 2025 and the 2026 awards on 19 October 2026.