Working conditions for migrants in Cornwall are to be checked out by police and council inspectors following a survey that revealed 74% of local employers would suffer without them.
An estimated 50,000 people from other European states now live and work in the South West of England.
A survey by Penzance Job Centre of 500 employers revealed a large proportion relied heavily on migrant workers.
Three-quarters claimed their firms would suffer or shut down completely without migrant labour.
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
Devon and Cornwall Police said if the area was not an attractive place to work for migrant labour, then local industries could suffer.
He told BBC News: “We’ve had some intelligence in to say that some of the sites we’re planning to visit are housing migrant workers in ways that you or I would not want to be housed.”
