Who this guide is for
Workers in England, Wales or Scotland who want to know which of their rights the government enforces for them, what the Fair Work Agency (FWA) does, how to complain to it, and what "fair work" means in Scotland and Wales.
What this guide does not cover
- Northern Ireland: see the Northern Ireland guide. Employment law is different there, and the Fair Work Agency only covers part of it.
- Whether you are paid at least the minimum wage, and how to work it out: use the minimum wage checker.
- How much holiday or sick pay you should get: use the employee rights checker. Holiday pay on zero hours or irregular hours: use the zero hours checker.
- Agency workers' pay and equal treatment after 12 weeks: use the agency worker checker. Whether you are a worker or self-employed: use the worker or self-employed checker.
- Your exact tribunal deadline: use the tribunal deadline checker.
- Agricultural wages, umbrella company rules, how to get an unpaid tribunal award paid, and when the Fair Work Agency will start enforcing holiday pay or statutory sick pay. This guide does not cover them: ask Acas.
⚖ At a glance
- The Fair Work Agency is the government body that enforces some workers' rights. It started work on 7 April 2026.
- Today it covers the minimum wage, employment agencies, gangmasters in farming and food, serious labour exploitation, and unpaid tribunal awards.
- You can complain to it online, or through the Acas helpline, and you can do so after you have left the job.
- It does not advise you on your own case or settle disputes. Acas does that.
- Most other rights, including holiday pay and sick pay for now, are enforced by your own tribunal claim, and the time limits are short.
- "Fair work" in Scotland and Wales is about how public money and public bodies are run. It does not give you new rights against your employer.
The questions that decide the answer
- Where do you work? In England, Wales or Scotland, this guide applies. In Northern Ireland, see the Northern Ireland guide.
- What is the problem? The minimum wage, an employment agency, a gangmaster, serious exploitation or an unpaid tribunal award: the Fair Work Agency can act. Holiday pay, sick pay, dismissal and most other rights: you need your own claim, and Acas is the first step.
- Do you want your money back, or do you want the employer stopped? For the minimum wage, enforcement makes the employer pay you the arrears. For an employment agency, the Fair Work Agency can investigate, but it might not be able to recover lost money for you.
- Have you already started a tribunal claim about the minimum wage? If you have, HMRC cannot take your complaint forward.
"What is the Fair Work Agency?"
The Fair Work Agency was formed on 7 April 2026, using powers in the Employment Rights Act 2025. It is an executive agency sponsored by the Department for Business and Trade.
It combines the powers of the former Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate, the National Minimum Wage enforcement team and the Office of the Director of Labour Market Enforcement.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) enforces the minimum wage on behalf of the Fair Work Agency, and considers all complaints from workers. The Fair Work Agency has contracted this work back to HMRC for its first year.
"What does the Fair Work Agency enforce now?"
GOV.UK lists its work as:
- enforcing the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage
- regulating employment agencies and employment businesses in England, Scotland and Wales
- licensing labour suppliers (gangmasters) to the agriculture and food sectors
- taking action against employers who commit serious labour exploitation or abuse, including modern slavery
- penalising employers who do not pay an employment tribunal award or an Acas settlement
The Employment Rights Act 2025 also gives the Fair Work Agency work on holiday pay and statutory sick pay, to be brought in at later stages. They are not on its current list, and this guide does not say when they start: for unpaid holiday pay or sick pay now, ask Acas about your own claim.
"What can the Fair Work Agency do to my employer?"
It can inspect and investigate employers, require them to put things right, issue penalties and fines, and prosecute serious offences.
For the minimum wage, an employer can be given a notice of underpayment. It must pay the arrears to the worker, and it is also charged a penalty of 200% of the underpayment: at least £100 for each notice, and no more than £20,000 for each worker.
Its enforcement policy includes naming employers that break minimum wage law.
For an employment agency, it can investigate if the agency refuses to pay what you are owed, charges you a fee to find you work, does not tell you it will charge you for extra services or uniforms, charges you a fee to be taken on directly by the hiring organisation, or has an umbrella company pay you without telling you who that company is, what it does and what it charges.
The Employment Rights Act 2025 also contains a power for the government to bring an employment tribunal claim in place of a worker who is not going to bring it (section 116). On 26 September 2026, legislation.gov.uk showed section 116 as not yet in force, so this guide does not treat it as available.
"How do I complain?"
Use the GOV.UK form "complain about pay and work rights". It covers not being paid the minimum wage, employment agencies, gangmasters and working hours.
You can report an employer even if you no longer work there. If you do not want the employer to be told who complained, say so on the form. Someone else can complain for you, but HMRC will need to ask for your permission.
You can also make a complaint through the Acas helpline, which has a free translation service.
GOV.UK says your complaint goes to HMRC if it is about the minimum wage, to the Fair Work Agency if it is about employment agency law or agency workers in agriculture, horticulture, shellfish gathering or associated processing and packaging, and to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) if it is about working time, including maximum weekly hours.
HMRC cannot take your complaint forward if you have already started a tribunal claim about the minimum wage.
"I'm being seriously exploited or controlled at work"
If you believe you are being controlled, threatened or manipulated at work, you can report it to the Fair Work Agency on 0800 432 0804. Calls are free and answered Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, and you can leave a voice message at other times. You can also use its online form or email contact@fairworkagency.gov.uk.
You do not have to give your name, but the Fair Work Agency can support you better if it can contact you.
That line is not an emergency number. If anyone is in immediate danger, call 999 and ask for the police.
"What does fair work mean in Scotland?"
Fair Work First is the Scottish Government's policy of applying fair work criteria to public sector contracts, grants and other funding. For public sector grants awarded on or after 1 July 2023, paying at least the real Living Wage and providing effective workers' voice, such as trade union recognition, are conditions of the grant.
The other criteria are encouraged: investment in workforce development, no inappropriate use of zero hours contracts, action on the gender pay gap and on diversity, flexible and family-friendly working from day one, and opposing fire and rehire.
These are conditions on organisations that receive public money. Fair Work First is a policy, not an employment law, and the Fair Work Agency does not enforce it.
"What does fair work mean in Wales?"
The Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023 set up a Social Partnership Council, made "fair work" part of the prosperous Wales well-being goal, and places duties on certain public bodies and the Welsh Ministers.
Those public bodies must seek consensus or compromise with their recognised trade unions (or other staff representatives) when setting and delivering their well-being objectives, and must consider socially responsible procurement.
These duties fall on public bodies. The Act does not give you a claim against your own employer.
Deadlines you must meet
- Unpaid wages at an employment tribunal: 3 months less 1 day, or 6 months less 1 day where the act (or the last act in a series) happened on or after 1 October 2026. It is counted from the date the pay was due (the last one, for a series).
- A claim for unlawful deductions from wages cannot go back more than 2 years before the date the claim is made to the tribunal.
- Before you can make most employment tribunal claims, you must notify Acas to start early conciliation. Your time limit is paused while conciliation runs, but only if you notify Acas within your time limit.
- Your exact date depends on your facts: the tribunal deadline checker works it out.
Money figures
- Minimum wage from 1 April 2026: £12.71 an hour at 21 and over, £10.85 at 18 to 20, £8.00 under 18, and £8.00 for apprentices.
- Minimum wage penalty: 200% of the underpayment, with a minimum of £100 per notice and a maximum of £20,000 per worker.
Where to go for help
Acas: 0300 123 1100 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm), acas.org.uk. Free advice on employment rights, early conciliation, and the "Pay and work rights" complaints service.
Fair Work Agency: 0345 161 6000 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, except public holidays), contact@fairworkagency.gov.uk. General enquiries and gangmaster licensing. For serious exploitation, use the free line above.
Free advice is also available from Citizens Advice, and from your trade union if you have one.
Citizens Advice (England): 0800 144 8848
Citizens Advice (Wales): 0800 702 2020
Citizens Advice Scotland: 0800 028 1456
Traps
- The Fair Work Agency does not give general advice or HR advice, and it does not replace employment tribunals.
- A complaint to the Fair Work Agency or HMRC does not pause your tribunal time limit. Notifying Acas for early conciliation does.
- The real Living Wage in Fair Work First is not the legal minimum wage. The legal minimum is the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage.
- The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority and the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate no longer exist as separate bodies: their work is now done by the Fair Work Agency.
- A Fair Work Agency investigation of an employment agency is not the same as getting your money back.
📜 Sources (checked 26 September 2026)
- GOV.UK: Fair Work Agency - About us (what it does: National Minimum Wage, employment agencies in England, Scotland and Wales, gangmaster licensing, serious labour exploitation, unpaid tribunal awards and Acas settlements; what it does not do; legal powers; formed April 2026; former bodies), updated 20 August 2026 - checked 26 September 2026.
- GOV.UK: Contact the Fair Work Agency (serious abuse or exploitation line 0800 432 0804 and its hours, not an emergency number, complain about pay or work rights form, general enquiries and gangmaster licensing 0345 161 6000), last updated 22 May 2026 - checked 26 September 2026.
- GOV.UK: Complain about pay and work rights (what the form covers, reporting a former employer, keeping your name from the employer, complaining for someone else, no complaint taken forward once a tribunal claim about the minimum wage has started) - checked 26 September 2026.
- GOV.UK: Pay and work rights helpline and complaints (Acas helpline, free translation service, where complaints are directed: HMRC, the Fair Work Agency, the Health and Safety Executive) - checked 26 September 2026.
- GOV.UK: Fair Work Agency framework agreement 2026 (established 7 April 2026, minimum wage enforcement contracted back to HMRC for the first operational year) and Fair Work Agency enforcement policy statement, published 7 April 2026 (remit, naming policy) - checked 26 September 2026.
- GOV.UK: Fair Work Agency factsheet (holiday pay and statutory sick pay functions to be implemented in later stages) - checked 26 September 2026.
- GOV.UK: HMRC National Minimum Wage Manual NMWM13226 (penalty of 200 per cent of the underpayment, minimum 100 per notice, maximum 20,000 per worker) - checked 26 September 2026.
- Acas: If there is a problem with the agency (what the Fair Work Agency can investigate, it might not recover lost money, how to complain) - checked 26 September 2026.
- legislation.gov.uk: Employment Rights Act 2025 section 116 (power to bring proceedings in an employment tribunal, shown as prospective) - checked 26 September 2026.
- gov.scot: Public sector grants and funding (Fair Work First criteria; real Living Wage and effective voice mandatory for grants awarded on or after 1 July 2023) - checked 26 September 2026.
- gov.wales: Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023 overview (Social Partnership Council, social partnership duty, fair work in the well-being goal, socially responsible procurement duty) - checked 26 September 2026.
- Reused from the verified UK Work Rights guides: minimum wage (rates from 1 April 2026, HMRC enforces on behalf of the Fair Work Agency); employee rights in England, Wales and Scotland (Acas early conciliation, unpaid wages time limits, 2 year limit on deductions claims).