From rights to reality: Designing a Fair Work Agency that delivers for the most vulnerable workers
Designing a Fair Work Agency that delivers for the most vulnerable workers 2.14 MB
Rights are only as strong as your ability to enforce them. While most employers obey the law, many still fail to fulfil their basic legal obligations. We helped more than 100,000 people with more than 192,000 employment issues in 2023/24. They’re often the people most at risk of experiencing poor treatment, working in low-paid and insecure jobs, without trade union protection.
It’s clear we need a better system for enforcing rights at work, especially for vulnerable workers. To make work pay, we need to help more people get the money they’re owed, access crucial protections like sick pay, and challenge unfair and exploitative practices.
The government’s promise of a Fair Work Agency (FWA) is an important step in the right direction. But it's crucial that it's designed in a way that truly delivers for those workers currently falling through the cracks, many of whom come to Citizens Advice for help.
In this report we identify several barriers which the government will need to ensure the FWA can overcome, and look at how approaches to powers and funding of other UK enforcement bodies can be profitably replicated in this space.
These barriers include:
An over-reliance on our already struggling court system, either to establish employment status or to exercise powers. Reliance on the courts risks putting more burden on the Employment Tribunal system and slowing down the pace of enforcement.
A reluctance for some workers to lodge complaints against their employer due to risk of retaliation, especially where this interacts with migration and visas.
A lack of resources to carry out its functions. This has been a longstanding barrier to effective labour market enforcement, and the FWA must have sustainable and sufficient funding to remedy this.
To overcome these barriers, the FWA must:
Carry out proactive enforcement in high-risk sectors where workers are less able to stand up for their rights.
Have the responsibility to determine whether businesses are using the correct employment status for their staff.
Help secure compliance with rights under the Equality Act in relation to core workers’ rights .
Have formal routes for frontline organisations to share intelligence, provide advice, and make referrals.
Ensure that those vulnerable to poor treatment due to their immigration status are able to seek help.
Have independent decision making and funding - via a levy - to enable effective and evidence-based enforcement.
Read the report here 2.14 MB .