The UK government is consolidating its employment enforcement bodies into a single, more powerful entity: the Fair Work Agency (FWA), established under the Employment Rights Bill. Launching in April 2026, the FWA represents the biggest shake-up in employment compliance enforcement in a generation.
If you hire people — employees, contractors, or agency staff — this affects you directly.
What is the Fair Work Agency?
The FWA merges several existing enforcement bodies into one:
- HMRC National Minimum Wage enforcement
- Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate
- Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA)
Instead of fragmented oversight across multiple agencies, the FWA creates a single body with consolidated powers, shared intelligence, and a unified enforcement approach.
What powers does the FWA have?
This is where it gets serious for businesses:
- Walk-in audit powers — inspectors can arrive unannounced and demand to see your employment records, right-to-work documentation, and compliance systems
- Civil penalties up to £60,000 per illegal worker — unchanged from current legislation, but enforcement will be significantly more proactive
- Criminal prosecution — up to 5 years' imprisonment for the most serious offences
- Information sharing — the FWA can share data across enforcement bodies, making it harder to fall through the cracks
- Expanded scope — covering not just direct employees but contractors, agency workers, and supply chain labour
Why this matters for SMEs
The FWA doesn't distinguish between a FTSE 250 company and a 10-person business. The same fines apply.
Currently, 5.5 million UK SMEs face the same penalties as large enterprises — but without dedicated compliance teams, HR departments, or legal counsel to manage the risk.
The typical small business approach to right-to-work checks today:
- Ask the candidate "Do you have the right to work in the UK?"
- Candidate says "Yes"
- Move to interviews
- Discover the issue weeks later (graduate visa, dependent visa, needs sponsorship)
- Start the process again — or risk the fine
This approach worked when enforcement was fragmented and under-resourced. It won't survive the FWA's consolidated, proactive enforcement model.
How to prepare
There are three things every UK business should do before April 2026:
1. Audit your current process
How do you verify right-to-work status today? If the answer involves asking candidates and trusting their response, you have a gap.
2. Move verification earlier in the process
The most expensive compliance failure is the one you discover after investing weeks of interviews, assessments, and emotional investment. Pre-screening right-to-work status at application stage eliminates this risk entirely.
3. Build an audit trail
When the FWA arrives, they'll want to see documentation. "We asked and they said yes" isn't an audit trail. You need timestamped, verifiable records of every check — who was verified, when, and what their status was.
How Certifyd helps
Certifyd is built for exactly this scenario. Our platform enables businesses to:
- Pre-screen right-to-work status at application stage — before you invest a single hour in interviews
- Show anonymised compliance status — Full rights, Graduate visa, Needs sponsorship — without compromising candidate privacy
- Generate audit-ready records automatically — every verification creates a tamper-proof, timestamped record
- Monitor continuously — compliance isn't a one-time check; Certifyd alerts you when action is needed
When the Fair Work Agency arrives at your door, the conversation changes from "let me check our files" to "here's our compliance dashboard — every employee verified, full audit trail, one click."
The bottom line
The Fair Work Agency isn't a distant regulatory change — it's launching in weeks. Businesses that prepare now will have a significant advantage: lower risk, faster hiring, and audit-ready compliance from day one.
If you want to understand how Certifyd can help your business prepare for the FWA, get in touch.