Can the Fair Work Agency turn up at my business without warning? A 2026 guide for UK employers

Yes, the Fair Work Agency (FWA) can visit your business without giving you advance notice. The FWA was created on 7 April 2026, and its officers will have statutory powers to enter your premises, examine your records and interview your workers on the spot. They don’t need a complaint from one of your employees to get started, and in most cases they don’t need a warrant either.  

The FWA’s focus during 2026 is establishing and consolidating its own infrastructure. Their inspection and enforcement powers, governed by regulations, are yet to be fully implemented, but will start having a greater impact during 2027. It’s important to use this transitional period to make sure you have the right systems in place to be well prepared for any future intervention by the FWA. 

The Employment Rights Act 2025 created the Fair Work Agency as an executive agency of the Department for Business and Trade. It is responsible for enforcing employment rights including holiday pay, Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), agency worker rules and — from April 2027 — the National Minimum Wage (NMW). Over the next few years, the FWA’s remit will expand to cover various other areas of employment law, and they will publish a timetable of when new areas of enforcement will take effect.   

If an inspection uncovers problems, the FWA can issue a Notice of Underpayment, impose financial penalties of 200% of any arrears, and impose charges to recover their own enforcement costs from non-compliant businesses. They can even refer the most serious cases for criminal prosecution.  

Here’s what you need to know about how those inspection powers work — and what to do if an officer arrives at your door.  

Key takeaways

Question	Answer
Can the FWA visit without notice?	Yes, officers will have statutory powers to enter premises without prior warning
When did these powers come into force?	7 April 2026 (but yet to be widely put into practice)
What law grants these powers?	Employment Rights Act 2025
Does a worker have to complain first?	No, the FWA can open investigations on its own initiative
What can officers do on site?	Enter premises, inspect records, interview workers, seize documents and equipment
Is a warrant always required?	No, warrants are only required in specific circumstances, such as entering a dwelling.
What happens if you refuse entry?	Obstruction can be treated as a criminal offence, carrying an unlimited fine
What records must you produce?	Payroll records, contracts, annual leave and holiday pay records (retained for six years from 6 April 2026)

Can the Fair Work Agency enter my business premises without warning?

Yes. Fair Work Agency officers have the power to enter business premises without prior notice under the Employment Rights Act 2025. Although they can act in response to employee complaints, the FWA mostly operates proactively, and doesn’t have to wait for one of your workers to raise a complaint before opening an investigation. Officers can arrive at your workplace, show their authorisation and begin an inspection.  

This is a meaningful change from the previous enforcement picture. The bodies the FWA is replacing — such as the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate (EASI) and the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) — had narrower remits. Holiday pay, in particular, had no central enforcement body at all before the FWA launched, and workers’ only route to a remedy was to bring claims themselves through employment tribunals.  

What powers do Fair Work Agency officers have on site?

Once on your premises, Fair Work Agency officers will have a broad set of statutory powers. They can:  

• Enter your business premises and inspect working conditions and records  
• Require you to produce payroll data, employment contracts, working time records, and holiday pay and annual leave calculations  
• Interview you, your managers and your workers — including in private, without other staff present  
• Seize physical documents or copy digital files  
• Examine computers, payroll software and HR systems  
• Take equipment away for further examination  
• Require any person to provide information or attend a formal interview  

You’re legally required to cooperate with these requests. Providing false information or documents, even unintentionally, can have serious consequences, and actively obstructing an officer is a criminal offence.  

Which premises can the Fair Work Agency inspect?

The Fair Work Agency can inspect any premises where work is carried out or business records are held. That includes:  

• Offices, shops and retail units  
• Warehouses, distribution centres and factory floors  
• Hospitality venues, care homes and construction sites  
• Agency and labour provider premises  
• Any location where employment records are stored  

Private homes are treated differently, see the section below on warrants.  

Do Fair Work Agency officers need a warrant?

Not always. Whether a warrant is required depends on the type of premises being entered.  

When officers can enter without a warrant

For standard business premises — offices, warehouses, shops, depots — Fair Work Agency officers can enter without a warrant, provided they carry their authorisation and have a reasonable basis for the inspection. This covers the majority of unannounced visits.  

When a warrant is required

A warrant is required before Fair Work Agency officers can enter a private dwelling. According to GOV.UK guidance on Fair Work Agency inspections and investigations of labour users, officers will apply to a court for a warrant where entry to a private home is needed to gather evidence. For example, this may apply where business records are held at a home address, or where a labour provider operates from a residential property. It’s also worth noting that the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) may apply to certain aspects of how inspections are conducted.  

What triggers an unannounced Fair Work Agency inspection?

The Fair Work Agency uses a risk-based approach to decide where to focus its activity. According to the Fair Work Agency’s Enforcement Policy Statement, published on GOV.UK, the agency prioritises cases where the impact on workers is greatest and where enforcement action will have the widest deterrent effect. Common triggers for an unannounced inspection include:  

• A complaint from a current or former worker about pay, leave or working conditions  

• Intelligence shared between the FWA, HMRC and the GLAA flagging potential non-compliance  

• Sectoral risk targeting — the FWA has already signalled that hospitality, social care, construction and agriculture are priority areas for the first rounds of inspections. 

• A follow-up to previous enforcement action, or a business that has already received a Notice of Underpayment  

• Broader data analysis identifying patterns of underpayment or record-keeping failures  

You don’t have to do anything obviously wrong to attract an inspection. If your sector is a priority, your business could be visited as part of a wider sweep, even if no individual worker has complained.  

Can I refuse entry to a Fair Work Agency inspector?

You can ask to see an officer’s authorisation – and you should. But refusing to allow entry, or obstructing an inspection once it’s underway, is a criminal offence.  

Officer action	Your right	Consequence of obstruction
Requesting entry to premises	Ask to see written authorisation	Obstruction is a criminal offence — unlimited fine
Asking to inspect records	Ask which records are needed	Failing to produce required records is a criminal offence
Requesting a worker interview	Worker can request to have a representative present, but you cannot insist on a company representative attending	Preventing an interview can constitute obstruction
Seizing documents or equipment	Ask for a receipt	Interference with seized material is a criminal offence
Requiring information in writing	Ask for the request in writing, clarifying exactly what is required.	Knowingly providing false information carries criminal sanctions

If you have any doubt about what an officer is entitled to do, contact your HR adviser or legal support immediately, don’t try to manage the situation alone.  

What should employers do during an unannounced inspection?

If a Fair Work Agency officer arrives at your premises, work through these steps:  

• Ask to see identification and written authorisation. Every FWA officer should carry official credentials confirming their identity and the basis for the inspection. Check them.  

• Contact your HR adviser or employment law support straight away. Don’t wait until the inspection is over. If you’re a Citation client, our advice line is available 24/7 — use it.  

• Cooperate with reasonable requests. Cooperation is both a legal requirement and, in practice, the best way to manage the inspection efficiently. If you’re found to have breached any legal requirements, whether knowingly or not, full transparency and cooperation will be counted in your favour when deciding any penalty or further action to be taken.   

• Take detailed notes. Write down what the officer asks for, what you provide, and when. Note the officer’s name and authorisation number. Acas also publishes free guidance on the holiday pay record-keeping duty — worth having to hand before any inspection.  

• Do not destroy, alter or move records. Once an inspection has begun, any interference with relevant documents is a criminal matter.  

• Don’t brief staff informally. Workers have the right to be interviewed in private. Attempts to coach or discourage workers from speaking freely can constitute obstruction.  

Worked example: what an unannounced inspection looks like

A warehousing business employs 30 people on a mix of full-time and fixed-hours contracts. Two Fair Work Agency officers arrive unannounced on a Monday morning. They show their authorisation and explain they’re inspecting holiday pay and annual leave records, triggered by intelligence that warehousing businesses in the region are a compliance concern.  

The employer asks to see credentials and notes the officers’ names. The officers request two years of annual leave records for all 30 workers, payroll records for the same period, and the calculations used to work out holiday pay for  fixed-hours staff.  

Records since 6 April 2026 are in order, but older records are incomplete. On reviewing the calculations, the officers find that regular overtime has been excluded from holiday pay for fixed-hours workers, a common mistake, but still an underpayment. They calculate an average shortfall of £400 per affected worker across 18 people.  

A Notice of Underpayment follows: £7,200 in back pay within 28 days, plus a £14,400 penalty (200% of the underpayment). Because the employer cooperates fully and pays within 14 days, the penalty drops to £7,200.  

Total cost: £14,400. And a reminder that “we didn’t mean to” doesn’t reduce what’s owed.  

Walk into a Fair Work Agency inspection ready

An unannounced FWA visit doesn’t have to catch you off guard. Citation’s HR & Employment Law experts help you get your records straight, check your holiday pay calculations and put compliant processes in place, before an inspector calls.  

And if things do go further? If you follow our advice and a claim still comes through, we defend it and cover any award up to £150,000.  

Talk to Citation about inspection readiness →