Fair Work Agency: Small and Micro Businesses

Lord Hunt of Wirral Excerpts

Wednesday 17th December 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Leong (Lab)]

The noble Lord is right to raise that concern, and I will set out the Government’s position. As I said earlier, the agency’s approach is proportionate and risk based. It does not create new obligations, and it consolidates existing rules into a clearer and simpler system. Micro-businesses up and down the country already comply with the minimum wage, holiday pay and sick pay, so there is no need for them to do anything else and they will see no changes to their day-to-day operation. Our focus is on serious or repeated abuse, not technical errors, and we will work with business groups to ensure that the transition is smooth and supportive for very small firms.

[Lord Hunt of Wirral (Con)]

My Lords, is the Minister aware of the words of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who said that, too often,

“regulation … acts as a boot on the neck of businesses, choking off … enterprise and innovation”?

I acknowledge that the Minister has an impressive background in small business, building up businesses. How is he going to ensure that the Fair Work Agency is structured in a way that ensures that it does not become the kind of regulator against which the Chancellor of the Exchequer spoke?

[Lord Leong (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord for giving me an opportunity to set out the Government’s position. As I say, we recognise the pressures on small firms. That is precisely why the Fair Work Agency consolidates the current four enforcement agencies into one, thus setting up a simpler and clearer regime. It reduces duplication, clarifies and enforces, and it provides a single point of contact for guidance and support. We aim to simplify rather than add more layers of regulation, while ensuring that responsible employers —and I mean responsible—are protected from being undercut by those who abuse and ignore the law.