Since 7 April 2026, the UK has had a new, dedicated enforcement body actively policing employment law compliance: the Fair Work Agency.
The Agency brings together enforcement that used to sit across several different bodies, and is actively checking compliance on:
- National Minimum Wage — including easy-to-miss issues like required uniform costs pushing pay below NMW
- Statutory Sick Pay — particularly relevant given the day-one SSP changes now in force
- Holiday pay — a notoriously complex area, and one the Agency is expected to focus on closely, with a consultation already underway on how it should approach enforcement here
Previously, enforcement in these areas was spread thinly and, in practice, many smaller businesses simply weren’t on anyone’s radar. That’s changing:
- The Agency is a dedicated enforcement body, not a side responsibility bolted onto another regulator
- It has real investigatory powers and can issue penalties
- It’s launching consultations to sharpen how it enforces specific areas (holiday pay currently under review), a sign it intends to be an active, evolving regulator rather than a passive one
Many of the areas covered by the Agency are precisely those where genuine, unintentional non-compliance is most common—not deliberate rule-breaking, but honest mistakes arising from:
- Holiday pay calculations (particularly for part-time, irregular-hours, or casual staff)
- Uniform/clothing costs inadvertently reducing pay below NMW
- SSP administration under the new day-one rules
5-Minute Compliance Check
Run through these quickly, if you can’t tick all of them, it’s worth a proper review:
- Payroll is calculating SSP from day one, with no 3-day wait applied
- Sickness absence policy has been updated to reflect day-one SSP and the removal of the earnings threshold
- Contracts and staff handbook reflect day-one paternity and unpaid parental leave and no outdated service requirements are listed
- Review your holiday pay calculation method, especially for anyone not on fixed hours
- Double-check NMW compliance for any role with a specific dress code or required clothing
If any of these are unchecked, get in touch so that we can help you become compliant quickly.