What documents do UK employers need ready for a Fair Work Agency inspection? A 2026 guide

The Fair Work Agency (FWA), which was established on 7 April 2026, can visit your business without notice and ask to see your employment records on the spot. Under powers set out in the Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA), inspectors will be able to enter your premises and demand pay records, holiday pay calculations, working time logs, employment contracts and Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) records.

How far back they can look depends on the record type: National Minimum Wage pay records are already subject to a six-year retention requirement, while the holiday pay records obligation under the Employment Rights Act 2025 runs from 6 April 2026. If you can’t produce what’s requested, or they’re not in reasonable order, the FWA can issue financial penalties and make its own estimate of any underpayment.

The record-keeping requirement for annual leave is already live. Since 6 April 2026, the ERA requires you to keep written records of each worker’s annual leave entitlement and how holiday pay has been calculated and paid, for six years. That’s now an obligation whether or not the FWA has contacted you.

Getting your documentation in order now is the best way to stay ahead of an inspection. This guide covers what records the FWA can ask to see, how long to keep them, and what to do before an inspector arrives.

Key takeaways

Question	Answer
Who can request my employment records?	Fair Work Agency (FWA) officers, under the Employment Rights Act 2025
Which records are in scope?	Pay records, holiday pay calculations, working time logs, employment contracts, SSP records
How far back for NMW pay records?	Up to six years, the six-year requirement has been in force since 2021
How far back for holiday pay records?	The obligation to retain records for six years applies to leave taken from 6 April 2026 onwards, but doesn’t apply retrospectively
Does the format matter?	Records must be produced in a visible and legible form, paper or electronic
What is the penalty for missing or inadequate records?	Financial penalties apply as it’s now a criminal offence; the FWA can also estimate underpayment and issue a Notice of Underpayment
When did the annual leave record-keeping requirement start?	6 April 2026, under the Employment Rights Act 2025

What can the Fair Work Agency ask to see during an inspection?

The Fair Work Agency has wide-ranging powers under the Employment Rights Act 2025 to inspect your premises, demand documents and interview staff or employee representatives. Inspectors don’t need to give you any notice before visiting.

When an inspection opens, the FWA will typically ask to see records covering:

• Pay records and payslips
• Holiday pay calculations, including your 52-week reference period workings
• Annual leave accrual and entitlement records
• Working time records
• Employment contracts and written statements of employment particulars
• SSP records

The FWA’s current enforcement focus is National Minimum Wage (NMW) compliance, agency worker regulations, labour exploitation, and unpaid Employment Tribunal awards. NMW enforcement continues to sit with HMRC during the 2026/27 transitional year, with a full transfer to the FWA expected in April 2027. Holiday pay and SSP enforcement are expected to begin from 2027 — and the records obligation that will underpin those investigations is already live. For NMW, the six-year requirement has been in force since 2021, so a 2027 investigation could look at pay records going back to 2021. For holiday pay, the ERA 2025 obligation runs from 6 April 2026: a 2027 investigation would cover the records you have been building since that date, not years before it.

Which employment records must UK employers keep in 2026?

Record type	Governing rule	How long to keep it
NMW pay records	National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015	Six years
Annual leave and holiday pay records	Employment Rights Act 2025	Six years (from 6 April 2026)
Working time records	Working Time Regulations 1998	Two years
PAYE and payroll records	HMRC PAYE guidance	Three years from the end of the relevant tax year
SSP records	HMRC SSP guidance	Three years

What pay records do I need ready for a Fair Work Agency inspection?

Your pay records need to be detailed enough for an inspector to verify that every worker received at least the National Minimum Wage and that holiday pay was correctly calculated.

At a minimum, you should be able to produce:

• Payslips showing gross and net pay for each worker
• Hours worked, including overtime and any irregular hours
• NMW compliance evidence, showing hourly rates against the applicable minimum wage bands
• Bonus, commission and allowance records, particularly where these affect holiday pay calculations for the first four weeks of statutory leave
• Records of any deductions made and the reason for each
• Agency worker pay records, where applicable

Holiday pay for workers with variable hours is one of the FWA’s stated enforcement priorities. If your workers receive regular overtime or commission, those payments should be included in the holiday pay calculation for the first four weeks of statutory leave, based on a 52-week reference period under the Working Time Regulations 1998. If your payroll system hasn’t been capturing that, it’s worth doing an audit before an inspector asks.

What working time records do I need under the Working Time Regulations 1998?

The Working Time Regulations 1998 require you to keep records showing you are complying with the 48-hour average working week and rest break requirements. For most businesses, that comes down to:

• Records of hours worked for each worker, sufficient to show the weekly average and compliance with daily and weekly rest, and rest breaks during the working day
• Signed opt-out agreements, where workers have opted out of the 48-hour limit and kept for the duration the opt-out remains in force
• Night workers’ health assessments, where relevant

What Statutory Sick Pay records do I need to keep?

Since 6 April 2026, SSP is payable from day one of sickness absence under the Employment Rights Act 2025, and the Lower Earnings Limit no longer applies. SSP enforcement now sits within the FWA’s remit, though a confirmed start date for active enforcement hasn’t been announced yet.

In preparation for upcoming enforcement, you should hold:

• Sickness absence logs for each worker, including start and end dates
• SSP calculations and payment records for each period of absence
• Details of workers who were not eligible for SSP and why

Worked example: what a records gap actually costs

The FWA contact a retail business with 12 staff about its National Minimum Wage records. During the preparation, the business carried out a wider payroll and employment compliance review.

The review found that holiday pay for three part-time employees has been calculated only using basic salary, despite all three regularly working overtime. The business also has incomplete records showing how previous holiday payments were calculated.

The business calculated that the three employees had collectively been underpaid by approximately £1,800, corrected the calculation going forwards, and reviewed which arrears were owed. They also discovered that two casual workers had never been given the required written particulars and took steps to correct this.

The £1,800 was already a liability – it wasn’t caused by the inspection. But the inspection prompted the business to find it before it became an even bigger problem.

What happens if I can’t produce the documents the Fair Work Agency requests?

If your records are missing, incomplete or not in a reasonable format, the FWA can:

• Draw adverse inferences about whether you are compliant
• Issue a Notice of Underpayment based on its own estimate, rather than your records
• Apply a financial penalty of 200% of the underpayment, capped at £20,000 per worker
• Recover its enforcement costs from you
• Name your business publicly on the government’s naming scheme for employers found to have underpaid workers – this has already started as of September 2026
• Refer the matter for criminal prosecution in serious cases, with personal liability potentially attaching to company directors

Failure to keep the annual leave records required by the Employment Rights Act 2025 is itself an offence which is separate from any underpayment finding.

How should I store and organise documents for a Fair Work Agency inspection?

Your records need to be retrievable quickly and presented in a visible, legible form. The FWA is not prescriptive about systems or formats, but inspectors do expect records to be accurate, complete and filed by each individual worker.

A straightforward approach:

• File payroll records digitally by worker and tax year
• Keep holiday pay calculations as a separate working document within your payroll or HR system
• Maintain a live record of each worker’s annual leave entitlement and leave taken, updated throughout the year
• Assign a named person in the business with responsibility for employment record-keeping
• Run an annual self-audit using the record categories above
• Have a plan in advance for who to contact if an inspector arrives, that could be your HR adviser, employment law provider or payroll specialist

Quick answers

How long do I have to produce documents for the Fair Work Agency?

The Employment Rights Act 2025 doesn’t set a specific statutory production window for all document types, but FWA guidance makes clear that employers should be able to produce records promptly on request.

Can the Fair Work Agency request records going back six years?

It depends on the record type. For National Minimum Wage pay records, the six-year retention requirement has been in force since 2021 under the National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015, so inspectors can already request up to six years of NMW records. For holiday pay records, the Employment Rights Act 2025 obligation is prospective from 6 April 2026, which means you’re not required to have retrospectively created records for years before that date, and the six-year archive builds up progressively from April 2026 onwards.

Do electronic records count for a Fair Work Agency inspection?

Yes. The Employment Rights Act 2025 allows records to be provided in electronic format, provided they are visible and legible. The FWA doesn’t require a particular system or format.

What records must I keep under the Employment Rights Act 2025?

From 6 April 2026, the Employment Rights Act 2025 requires you to keep written records of each worker’s annual leave entitlement, when and how much leave was taken, and how holiday pay was calculated and paid for each period of leave and retain them for six years.

Do I need to keep records for zero-hours and casual workers?

Yes. Written statements of employment particulars are a day-one right for workers, including those on zero-hours contracts. Holiday pay and pay records apply to workers as well as employees.

What if my payroll provider holds the records, not me?

You’re still responsible for compliance. If the FWA requests records, you need to be able to produce them. Check with your payroll provider how they store records and how quickly you could access them if you were facing an inspection.

Can the Fair Work Agency take original documents away?

FWA officers have powers to seize documents. Attempting to prevent a document being removed could be treated as obstruction which is a potential criminal offence.

Is a written statement of employment particulars enough on its own?

It covers the statutory minimum. For workers on casual or irregular arrangements, you should also hold records of the specific terms agreed, any subsequent changes, and the basis on which the working relationship operates day to day.

 

Not sure your records would hold up?

Citation’s HR and Employment Law consultants can review your pay, holiday and sickness records against what the Fair Work Agency actually asks for, and flag the gaps before an inspector does. Talk to our HR and Employment Law team or call 0345 844 1111.