Fair Work Agency Enforcement Readiness Check

The Employment Rights Act 2025 creates the Fair Work Agency (FWA), a single enforcement body that brings together the work previously split between HMRC’s National Minimum Wage team, the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate and the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority. It also takes on enforcement of statutory sick pay and holiday pay. The FWA can inspect workplaces, require documents, issue notices of underpayment and, in serious cases, bring civil proceedings on behalf of workers, with penalties that can reach well beyond the arrears themselves.

For small employers, the practical shift is that underpayments no longer depend on a worker bringing their own claim. Under-recorded hours, wrongly calculated holiday pay, unpaid statutory sick pay, deductions and missing payslip detail can all be picked up proactively. Under the National Minimum Wage Act 1998, the Working Time Regulations 1998 and the Employment Rights Act 1996, employers must keep accurate records and pay what is owed. This check helps you find and fix gaps before an inspector or a worker does.

This check looks at whether your pay, holiday, sick pay and record-keeping would hold up under Fair Work Agency scrutiny, and gives practical steps to close any gaps.