It's 9:15 on a Monday morning. Your office manager is still making coffee. Two people walk through the front door, show identification, and ask to speak with whoever is responsible for employment compliance. They're from the Fair Work Agency. They're not here to schedule a meeting. They're here to inspect your records. Right now.
This scenario isn't hypothetical. When the Fair Work Agency (FWA) launches in April 2026, its inspectors will have the power to conduct unannounced, walk-in audits of any UK business that employs people. The question isn't whether it will happen to you. It's whether you'll be ready when it does.
What They'll Ask For
FWA inspectors will want to see documentation across several categories, and they'll want it quickly:
- Right-to-work records for every employee — not just recent hires, but your entire workforce
- Contractor and agency worker documentation — the FWA's scope extends beyond direct employees to cover anyone working for or on behalf of your organisation
- Proof of when each check was conducted — a document on file isn't enough if you can't show when the verification took place
- Evidence that documents were assessed for authenticity — "they showed me a passport" is not a process; they'll want to see how you determined the document was genuine
- Ongoing monitoring records — for employees with time-limited right to work (graduate visas, dependent visas, seasonal workers), evidence that you're tracking expiry dates and conducting follow-up checks
The penalties for gaps are severe. Up to £60,000 in civil penalties per illegal worker. Up to 5 years' imprisonment for the most serious offences. And the FWA won't distinguish between a deliberate violation and an honest oversight. If the records aren't there, the liability is yours.
The Practical Checklist
Here are six steps to get your business audit-ready before the FWA comes knocking.
1. Audit Your Current Records
Start with what you have. Pull the employment files for every person currently working in your organisation — employees, contractors, temps, and agency staff. For each person, confirm you hold:
- A copy of their identity document
- A record of when the right-to-work check was conducted
- Evidence of what document was reviewed and who reviewed it
If any of these are missing, you have a gap. Mark it. Fix it.
2. Digitise Your Paper Trails
If your compliance records live in filing cabinets, desk drawers, or individual managers' email inboxes, you have a retrieval problem. When an inspector asks for documentation, they're not going to wait while you search through folders.
Move everything into a centralised digital system. Every record should be searchable by employee name, date of check, and document type. If you're still relying on paper, this is the single highest-impact step you can take.
3. Verify All Current Staff — Not Just New Hires
Many businesses conduct right-to-work checks at the point of hiring and never revisit them. That approach creates two risks:
- Historical gaps. Staff hired before your current process was implemented may have incomplete records. The FWA won't accept "we didn't check back then" as an excuse.
- Expired permissions. Employees with time-limited right to work — graduate visas, spousal visas, seasonal permits — need rechecking when their permission expires. If you're not tracking these dates, you're exposed.
Conduct a full verification sweep of your existing workforce. Treat it like a fresh start.
4. Include Agency and Contract Workers
This is where many businesses are caught out — the same temp worker loophole that leaves 1.1 million agency workers virtually unverified. You assume the agency conducted the checks. The agency assumes you know. Nobody has a complete picture.
Under the FWA's expanded scope, you can be held liable for workers operating on your behalf — even if they're employed by a third party. Request copies of verification records from your agencies. If they can't provide them, that's a red flag.
5. Test Your Retrieval Time
Here's a practical exercise. Pick any five employees at random. Time how long it takes you to produce their full right-to-work documentation — identity check, date of verification, document assessed, and any follow-up checks.
If the answer is measured in minutes, you're in reasonable shape. If it's measured in hours or days, you have a serious problem. An FWA inspector won't wait for you to locate files. The speed at which you can produce records is itself evidence of the robustness of your compliance process.
6. Set Up Continuous Monitoring
Compliance isn't a one-time event. It's an ongoing obligation. You need a system that:
- Alerts you when a right-to-work permission is approaching expiry
- Flags employees or contractors with incomplete records
- Creates a timestamped log every time a check is conducted or updated
- Provides a single view of your compliance status across your entire workforce
The goal is to move from reactive ("let me check our files") to proactive ("here's our dashboard — everyone verified, full audit trail, updated in real time").
"Here's Our Dashboard" vs. "Let Me Check Our Files"
When the FWA inspector arrives on that Monday morning, there are two versions of how the conversation goes.
Version one: You ask for time. You call your office manager, your HR lead, your agency contacts. You start pulling files. Some are digital, some are paper, some are in an email from 2024 that nobody can find. The inspector waits. The gaps become apparent. The conversation turns uncomfortable.
Version two: You log into your compliance platform. Every employee, contractor, and agency worker is listed. Each one has a verification status, a timestamp, and an auditable record. You show the inspector the dashboard. The conversation is short, professional, and over in minutes.
That's the difference between a business that manages compliance and a business that can prove compliance. The FWA is designed to find the businesses stuck in version one.
Get ahead of it. Start now.
For a detailed breakdown of the Fair Work Agency's powers and timeline, read our full analysis of what the FWA means for UK businesses. To see how Certifyd's compliance platform works, visit our compliance solution page.