Only a few hours to go before the Fair Work Agency comes into effect in the UK tomorrow, 7th April 2026.
As part of our wider influencing work, our CEO, Laura Evans, is involved in responding to various government consultations on Working Parties and Advisory Boards.
In February 2024, Laura participated in a Workplace Equity Commission Call for Evidence for the British Chambers of Commerce , in her then capacity as an Expert Panel Member on Responsible Business for Liverpool Chamber of Commerce.
One of the questions in the Call for Evidence asked what lessons the UK could learn from other countries. Having completed training on Australian Employment Law as a Fellow of the Australian HR Institute (AHRI), Laura fed into this Call for Evidence the example of the Australian Fair Work Commission.
The Australian Fair Work Commission is an independent workplace relations tribunal and registered organisations regulator, with a wide range of responsibilities in dispute resolution, work standards, registered organisations, and bargaining and enterprise agreements.
Laura raised the following:
- Similarly bringing things together here in the UK could help streamline various disparate areas of regulation, which would help reduce burdens on employers whilst not removing important protections for employees and workers.
- It could help address increasing backlogs in the Conciliation and Tribunals systems, which were already causing issues two years ago and have since become intolerable. We heard of a case last autumn that will not be heard in the Employment Tribunal until 2029.
Unfortunately, the UK Fair Work Agency hasn’t been given as wide ranging powers. Nevertheless, it marks a step change in the approach to regulating employment practices in the UK alongside a raft of other changes enacted under the Employment Rights Act 2025.
It will be very interesting to see how this new regulatory body progresses and works in practice.