21 July 2025
As Director of Labour Market Enforcement, Margaret Beels produces a yearly Labour Market Enforcement Strategy. With the coming introduction of the Fair Work Agency (FWA), this year’s report gives us a small insight into how Beels would like to see this transition managed.
Some key quotes from the report for payroll professionals to be aware of are:
Employment status
“It is therefore important that the government makes progress on addressing the labour market exploitation risks associated with employment status. Labour’s ‘Plan to Make Work Pay’ made several commitments in relation to employment status. I remain of the view that simplifying the system would provide welcome clarity, could reduce tax avoidance and that this is a pressing issue. The government may wish to consider other options for reforming employment status such as reversing the burden of proof for employment status onto the employer. It would be interesting to understand the experience in the EU of implementing a presumption of worker status for platform workers.”
National Minimum Wage (NMW) enforcement
“I would like to see the enforcement of National Minimum Wage brought within the FWA, rather than continuing to be contracted out to HMRC. As can be seen in tables 2 and 3 above, the HMRC NMW team is by far the largest in terms of numbers of staff and funding. Without this function being integrated into the FWA, it is unlikely that the FWA can see the benefits of a fully streamlined organisation. However, it is important that the FWA continues to have access to HMRC data that will enable it to identify risks and manage enforcement. I welcome the work that is already underway to support this aim, and I hope this continues to be prioritised.”
Recommendations
“Recommendation 1: resources I recommend government ensures that the FWA has resources commensurate with its task and the Make Work Pay ambition – both on the front line and as regards strong core functions to support its work.”
“Recommendation 2: transparent governance I recommend the Framework Agreement required between DBT and the FWA is in line with best practice.”
“Recommendation 5: payslips I recommend ODLME collates evidence on the provision of payslips and presents a paper to the LME Board making recommendations on what further measures might strengthen compliance with the Employment Rights Act 1996 in relation to the provision of payslips.”
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