A new joint briefing from the Institute of Employment Rights warns that the Government’s new workplace watchdog, the Fair Work Agency, risks failing to deliver meaningful protections for workers unless urgent changes are made.
13 April 2026
The briefing, authored by David Whyte, Queen Mary University of London and Ruth Dukes, University of Glasgow highlights longstanding weaknesses in the UK’s system of workplace enforcement and argues that the new Agency could repeat past failures without stronger powers and funding.
The Fair Work Agency is set to launch on 7 April, bringing together several existing enforcement bodies into a single organisation intended to improve compliance with employment law.
However, the report warns that:
The increasing overlap between labour market enforcement and immigration control has discouraged vulnerable workers from reporting exploitation
The authors argue that without significant reform, the new Agency risks becoming “another toothless watchdog”.
The briefing calls on the Government to:
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