Fair Work Agency’s priorities criticised days before its launch
The government has asked its new employment rights watchdog to reduce the regulatory burden on business, it has emerged, a request that worker advocates said risks turning the agency into “a dead duck”,The Fair Work Agency (FWA), which is being launched on Tuesday, is a cornerstone of Labour’s Employment Rights Act,It will bring together several existing labour enforcement bodies and its responsibilities will include policing the minimum wage, holiday pay and modern slavery,At a recent meeting with civil society groups, Matthew Taylor, its incoming chair, listed the five priorities the Department of Business and Trade had laid out for the FWA in its first year,These included “thought leadership” and “reducing regulatory burdens”.
But experts and trade unions say that, rather than reducing regulation, a more robust approach and greater funding for inspections is needed.Sharon Graham, the general secretary of Unite, which represents more than 1 million workers, said the priorities showed the agency was “in danger of being a dead duck before it even begins”.“For too long, workers have borne the brunt of disreputable employers who have had carte blanche,” she said.“The government needs to urgently ensure that the FWA focuses its attention on bringing rogue bosses to heel rather than seeking ways to allow dodgy companies to continue bad behaviour.”Caroline Robinson, director of the Worker Support Centre, a charity that supports migrant workers, said the recommendations were “deeply concerning”.
“It’s contradictory to introduce a new regulator for the purpose of reducing regulatory burdens.Labour enforcement has been decimated over the past 20 years by successive government cuts,” she said.“The Fair Work Agency is our opportunity to reverse this.”The UK has among the fewest labour inspectors per worker within Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, with different estimates putting the scale of unpaid wages in the billions of pounds.This means employers face “no credible threat of inspection, investigation or enforcement,” said Prof David Whyte, of Queen Mary University.
Whyte will publish a report with the Institute of Employment Rights on Monday with recommendations for the FWA, including adequate funding, unannounced inspections and prosecutions for wrongdoing.The government has yet to announce the budget it will allocate to the FWA.“It’s fantastically depressing,” said Nick Clark, who previously sat on the board of the government’s agricultural exploitation watchdog, which was then named the Gangmasters Licensing Authority.He said it was remarkable that none of the government’s priorities, which also include “intelligence and data” and “public awareness and stakeholder engagement”, mentioned improving conditions for workers.As part of the legislation, an advisory board with representation from business, unions and independent experts has been set up to inform the FWA’s work.
They have yet to meet and were not consulted on the government’s priorities.Tuesday’s launch will be followed by a more substantial kick-off in October, it is understood.The first full strategy for the agency will be published in April 2027.“The message that I’ve heard so far has been that they’re still working on the very basics, that they want to be really consultative and collaborative,” one board member said.“Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt.
”A government spokesperson said: “The new Fair Work Agency will end the current fragmented system of enforcing employment rights, making it easier for workers and victims of exploitation to get the rights they’re entitled to.“The agency will take tough action against businesses that deliberately flout the law while supporting employers who want to do the right thing and strengthen workers’ rights.”
House swaps: why exchanging home could be a ticket to a dream holiday
About six miles from Reims, beside a golf course, is a house with a heated pool and space to sleep 10 people that would probably be perfect for many of those planning to book a family holiday in France.An hour’s drive from Disneyland Paris, the four-bedroom property is quiet, located near a village with a bakery, has an electric gate that provides security, and is on almost half an hectare (one acre) of land.The cost? Nothing, if you are prepared to sign up to a “house swap holiday”, whereby you exchange your home with that of another person.Some regular home swappers claim they saved tens of thousands of pounds over the years.There are many websites where you can search for the perfect swap with (see end of story)
UK food halls buck downbeat hospitality trend: ‘In this impossible climate, they shine hope’
Beeps chirp through the cavernous Cambridge Street Collective on a busy weekday, as buzzers alert the lunch crowd to collect their sushi tacos, rendang curries or Palestinian chicken musakhan.The Sheffield food hall is Europe’s largest purpose-built venue of its kind, at 20,000 sq ft, and arrived in 2024 as part of a major redevelopment of the city, which has brought in businesses including HSBC.Food halls are on the rise as restaurateurs face a challenging economic climate in which rising energy costs have been exacerbated by US-Israeli attacks on Iran ,and labour costs have spiralled as a result of increases to the minimum wage and national insurance contributions for employers. Many diners are also opting to stay at home as the cost of living bites. But while brick-and-mortar restaurants across the UK are closing, food halls are making money; in major UK cities they average £5
Claim sooner rather than later, experts urge, after £7.5bn car loan compensation scheme launched
Complain now to be at the front of the queue. That is the message from the City regulator and the consumer champion Martin Lewis as a scheme gets under way to pay out about £7.5bn in total to millions of motorists mis-sold car loans.More information emerged this week about how much money the different categories of people might get and how it will all work after Monday’s announcement that an industry-wide compensation scheme for victims of the UK’s car finance scandal is definitely going ahead.Here are five main takeaways: Technically it’s two schemes
‘Over the top and fun:’ TGI Fridays boss insists time is right for a UK revival
“I am a little crazy maybe,” admits Ray Blanchette, a former TGI Fridays kitchen manager who has taken on the revival of the bar-restaurant chain’s UK business in the face of blasting industry headwinds.Blanchette’s family investment firm, Sugarloaf, rescued the Dallas-based parent business from administration in 2025. He then went on to pick up its UK arm in January after the local franchisee got into difficulties, retaining 33 UK restaurants but closing 16, with the loss of 456 jobs.British restaurants and cafes have been struggling with higher staffing, energy and food costs while diner numbers have dwindled as households avoid eating out as their spare cash has been squeezed by similar forces. Increases in tax – including employers’ national insurance contributions and business rates – have layered on the pain
Lord Haskins obituary
Chris Haskins, Lord Haskins, was perhaps the most prominent business supporter of Tony Blair’s New Labour project, brought in to Downing Street at the start of his administration to advise on cutting red tape, and later as “rural tsar” in the wake of the devastating foot and mouth outbreak of 2001. What Blair would praise as Haskins’s invaluable “no nonsense approach” was honed during 40 years building up Northern Foods into Britain’s leading food manufacturer. There he was credited with developing the chilled food techniques that have made possible today’s enormous growth in ready meals and convenience foods.Haskins, who has died aged 88, combined the acumen of an entrepreneur and enlightened business manager with a socialist conscience. Alongside it went a compulsion to tell the truth as he saw it, which could sometimes get him into difficulties
Wake-up call: how Telstra’s ‘unreasonable’ price rises may cause customers to hang up
Telstra has long traded on its claim to have better – and far more expansive – mobile coverage than its rivals to justify a steep pricing premium that has accelerated in recent years.But the telco’s latest changes, which include steep price hikes and the closure of its cheaper “starter” plan to new users, combined with a dramatic rejection of its coverage claims by the industry regulator, risk putting off many of its traditional customers, according to consumer advocates.Telstra recently announced sweeping price changes including raising monthly charges on its mobile plans, a big money printer for Australia’s biggest telco.Telstra’s standard monthly mobile plan will increase from $70 to $74 for 50GB of data, representing an aggressive second price hike in less than a year.Its announcement cleared the path for rivals, including Optus, to make similar increases
Court dismisses former WhatsApp security chief’s lawsuit against Meta
Goodbye mrbrightside416: Google allows users to alter quirky Gmail addresses
Pupils in England are losing their thinking skills because of AI, survey suggests
Claude’s code: Anthropic leaks source code for AI software engineering tool
SpaceX confidentially files to go public at $1.75tn, reports say
‘System malfunction’ causes robotaxis to stall in the middle of the road in China