Fair Work Agency: Evidence submission to the DLME’s Labour Market Enforcement Strategy 2025/26
We have submitted written evidence to the Director of Labour Market Enforcement (DLME) in order to inform its Labour Market Enforcement Strategy 2025/26. Using our knowledge of the UK’s current labour enforcement landscape, we recommend factors that should be considered in the design and creation of a new single enforcement body - the Fair Work Agency.
The role of the DLME was created in 2017 to bring together a coherent assessment of the extent of labour market exploitation, identifying routes to tackle exploitation and harnessing the strength of the three main enforcement bodies: HMRC National Minimum Wage; the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA); and the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate (EAS). Each year the Director submits a Labour Market Enforcement Strategy to the government to set priorities for the three main enforcement bodies.
As the UK’s model of labour market enforcement moved towards a single enforcement approach as part of the new Fair Work Agency, our submission provides information under the four key themes identified by the DLME. These include:
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Employment rights enforcement priorities and governance
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Communication and engagement
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Resourcing and prioritisation
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Moving towards a Fair Work Agency
We use this submission to identify the factors that will be key to the Fair Work Agency’s success. These include building trust with non-unionised workers, developing a transparent and accessible client charter and transitioning to an enforcement (rather than compliance) based model of enforcement. We also outline how the new Fair Work Agency will need to have a symbiotic relationship with the employment tribunal system, to ensure that workers are able to access remedy in an efficient way and so the enforcement ecosystem is not overwhelmed.
Adequate resourcing and a decentralised model of enforcement will also be necessary to ensure that the UK operates a model of enforcement that is akin to the generally higher standards of labour enforcement that exist in Europe and other OECD countries. Increasing the UK’s state enforcement capacity in line with international standards will better allow the new Fair Work Agency to deal with the risks of non-compliance that are likely to continue and emerge in the coming years. This includes the risk of exploitation for sponsored migrant workers, the risk that rogue actors will seek to take advantage of teething periods around the new Employment Rights bill, risks associated with the UK falling behind international regulations related to forced labour and human rights due diligence, and lastly, risks inherent in the lack of individual director liability.