The first of two waves of Employment Rights Act reform took effect this month, with the second following on the 30th of October, against the backdrop of a labour market regulator that has spent its first six months demonstrating exactly what enforcement now looks like.
When the first Employment Rights Act changes took effect in April, the open question was how actively they would be enforced. Six months on, organisations have their answer.
The Fair Work Agency, established on the 7th of April, secured a conviction relating to an unlicensed gangmaster in July. In early September, the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade named 658 employers for failing to pay the national minimum wage, with around 4 million repaid to more than 27,000 workers. The agency has also published its first delivery plan, confirming it intends to begin holiday pay enforcement in April 2027.
“April was about legislation. What we have seen since is a regulator establishing how it intends to operate, and doing so at pace,” says Ray Walker, Director of Operational Compliance at Magnit Global. “Organisations that treated the first wave as a paperwork exercise are now dealing with a body that can inspect records, bring tribunal proceedings on a worker’s behalf and recover the cost of its own enforcement action.”
What changes in October
· From the 1st of October, tribunal time limits double. The period for bringing most tribunal claims rises from three months to six, with breach of...
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