diff --git a/lib/ingestors/material_csv_ingestor.rb b/lib/ingestors/material_csv_ingestor.rb
index d91790d98..1c13f97c0 100644
--- a/lib/ingestors/material_csv_ingestor.rb
+++ b/lib/ingestors/material_csv_ingestor.rb
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ def read(url)
           material.description = process_description row, 'Description'
           material.keywords = process_array row, 'Keywords'
           material.contact = get_column row, 'Contact'
-          material.licence = get_column row, 'Licence'
+          material.licence = process_licence row, 'Licence'
           material.status = get_column row, 'Status'
 
           # copy optional values
@@ -69,6 +69,10 @@ def process_competency(row, header)
       row[header].nil? ? 'notspecified' : row[header]
     end
 
+    def process_licence(row, header)
+      row[header].nil? ? 'notspecified' : row[header]&.to_s&.lstrip
+    end
+
     # if url is a raw google spreadsheet
     # it returns the Google spreadsheet CSV export
     # else it returns the url
diff --git a/test/unit/ingestors/material_csv_ingestor_test.rb b/test/unit/ingestors/material_csv_ingestor_test.rb
index 7f6bbc10d..9cfe8f24d 100644
--- a/test/unit/ingestors/material_csv_ingestor_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/ingestors/material_csv_ingestor_test.rb
@@ -222,6 +222,23 @@ def run
     assert_not_equal url_spreadsheet, url_export_spreadsheet
   end
 
+  test 'read logs error when exception is raised' do
+    source = @content_provider.sources.build(
+      url: 'https://app.com/materials.csv',
+      method: 'material_csv',
+      enabled: true
+    )
+
+    ingestor = Ingestors::MaterialCsvIngestor.new
+
+    # Stub a method that will raise an error
+    ingestor.stub(:get_column, -> (*) { raise CSV::MalformedCSVError.new('test failure', 11) }) do
+      ingestor.read(source.url)
+    end
+
+    assert_equal ingestor.messages.last, 'parse table failed with: test failure in line 11.'
+  end
+
   private
 
   def get_material(title, url, provider = nil)