What Is the Fair Work Agency?
The Fair Work Agency enforces recruitment agency rules, gangmaster licensing and the minimum wage (with HMRC). What changed in 2026.
The Fair Work Agency (FWA) is the government body that enforces a range of workers' rights. It is an executive agency sponsored by the Department for Business and Trade, and it was established on 7 April 2026 as one of the measures in the government's Employment Rights Act 2025 timetable. In law, section 90 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 gives the Secretary of State the function of enforcing the listed labour market legislation, with powers exercised through appointed enforcement officers; the FWA is the executive agency that does that work.
It brought several previously separate enforcement bodies together. Gov.uk records that both the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate, which policed recruitment agencies, and the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority were replaced by the FWA. It is now responsible for National Minimum Wage enforcement, which HMRC carries out on its behalf (gov.uk, 3 September 2026).
According to its own description, the FWA protects workers by:
- enforcing the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage
- regulating employment agencies and employment businesses in England, Scotland and Wales
- licensing labour suppliers for agricultural work, gathering shellfish, or processing or packaging agricultural produce, shellfish or fish (gangmaster licensing, under section 3 of the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act 2004)
- taking action against employers who commit serious labour exploitation or abuse
- penalising employers who do not pay employment tribunal awards or Acas settlements
It can inspect and investigate employers, require them to put things right, issue penalties and fines, and prosecute serious offences. It does not give general HR advice or resolve individual disputes; that remains with Acas and employment tribunals.
For a recruitment agency, the practical changes are small but real. The FWA now enforces the Conduct Regulations, the main agency rulebook, and it is the body workers can complain to about an agency, and the one named in a Key Information Document as the enforcement contact. Labour providers in the licensed sectors now hold a Fair Work Agency gangmaster's licence. Its overview of the Conduct Regulations is the current plain-English guide to the agency rules.
This entry reflects gov.uk as checked on 28 September 2026.