Fair Work Agency: Small and Micro Businesses

Lord Carter of Haslemere Excerpts

Wednesday 17th December 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Leong (Lab)]

The noble Lord is absolutely right to highlight this issue, and I welcome his continued engagement on it. The agency will provide straightforward, sector-specific guidance written with small and micro-businesses in mind. The requirements are not new—minimum wage, holiday pay and sick pay already apply. When changes are made, SMEs will have clearer instructions, simpler routes to advice and a single enforcement body—the Fair Work Agency—rather than several other bodies that currently exist. We will work closely with representative bodies to ensure that small employers receive the practical help they need.

[Lord Carter of Haslemere (CB)]

My Lords, the Fair Work Agency and the Secretary of State are legally one and the same entity. Given the extent of enforcement and police powers which the agency will enjoy, will the service level agreement, which I assume will be agreed between the Secretary of State and the agency, ensure that the agency has full operational independence from the Secretary of State?

[Lord Leong (Lab)]

The noble Lord is absolutely right. The Fair Work Agency will be set up as an executive agency independent of the Secretary of State. However, it will have to report to the Secretary of State for its actions and enforcement. It will bring the four current enforcement units together into a single unit that all businesses should be able to address, and it will simplify the whole issue.