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The Fair Work Agency is now operating and has brought several areas of employment enforcement together under one body. Its work covers issues including minimum wage compliance, employment agency standards, gangmaster licensing, labour exploitation and unpaid Employment Tribunal awards. Its responsibilities are also expected to expand.

This is not simply an issue for employment lawyers and HR professionals. Pay, working hours, deductions, holiday calculations and statutory payments all rely on information held within payroll and finance systems. Early enforcement activity has already demonstrated the financial and reputational consequences of getting these areas wrong.

This session will explain what the Fair Work Agency is doing, how it investigates employers and what its work means for accountants, in-house finance professionals and business advisers. Delegates will learn how to identify common warning signs, ask the right questions and recognise when specialist advice is needed helping them protect their organisation, support their clients and add value through better-informed advice.

In this session Jemma Fairclough-Haynes will cover the following topics:

• The Fair Work Agency and why it matters now: Why the Agency was created, the enforcement bodies and responsibilities it has brought together, and how its creation changes the way employment rights are enforced. 

• What the Fair Work Agency currently enforces: Its present responsibilities, including the National Minimum Wage, employment agency standards, gangmaster licensing, serious labour exploitation and penalties for unpaid Employment Tribunal awards and Acas settlements, together with areas expected to be added to its remit.

• How investigations and enforcement work: How the Agency receives intelligence, selects cases, requests information, inspects records, interviews workers and business representatives, visits premises and takes action where it finds non-compliance.

• What early enforcement activity tells us: Practical examples and case studies, including minimum wage underpayments, employer naming, financial penalties and criminal enforcement, and the lessons these cases provide for businesses and their advisers.

• What finance professionals and business advisers should do: How to identify problems within payroll and financial records, the questions to ask clients and internal teams, steps that can be taken to correct mistakes, and when specialist employment law advice should be sought.

By attending this session, delegates will:

• Understand the role of the Fair Work Agency and the areas it currently enforces.
• Understand how its responsibilities are expected to develop.
• Know how the Agency identifies potential non-compliance and conducts investigations.
• Recognise the importance of accurate payroll, working-time, holiday and pay records.
• Understand the financial, legal and reputational consequences illustrated by early enforcement activity.
• Be able to identify common warning signs within their own organisation or a client’s business.
• Be better equipped to raise concerns, ask informed questions and recommend appropriate action.
• Understand the limits of their role and recognise when specialist employment law advice is needed.

This session will be of most interest to:

• Accountants working in practice.
• In-house accountants and finance professionals.
• Finance directors and financial controllers.
• Payroll professionals and payroll bureaux.
• Bookkeepers with responsibility for payroll or employment-related records.
• Business advisers and consultants.
• Practice owners and partners.
• Business owners and senior managers.
• Finance professionals who work alongside HR teams or have responsibility for workforce costs and compliance.

The session will be suitable for professionals advising clients and those responsible for finance, payroll or compliance within their own organisation. No specialist knowledge of employment law will be required.

Course level: Need to know

The Fair Work Agency is now operating and represents an important change in the enforcement of workplace rights. Accountants, finance professionals and business advisers do not need to become employment law specialists, but they should understand how the Agency’s work connects with the payroll, financial and employment records they prepare, review or rely upon.

The course will explain the subject in clear and practical terms while providing enough detail for delegates to identify potential problems and respond appropriately.