{"id":520174,"date":"2025-10-22T17:46:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T17:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/520174\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T17:46:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T17:46:12","slug":"fair-work-agency-requires-proper-resources-workers-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/520174\/","title":{"rendered":"Fair Work Agency requires proper resources | Workers&#8217; rights"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The appointment of Matthew Taylor to chair the new Fair Work Agency is a welcome step towards addressing longstanding issues in the labour market (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/business\/2025\/oct\/14\/matthew-taylor-fair-work-agency-watchdog-workers-rights\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">14 October<\/a>). But the creation of a single enforcement body will only be transformative if it is matched by sustained investment and political will.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">For too long, the enforcement of labour market rules has been undermined not by the failure of regulators but by chronic underresourcing. HMRC\u2019s national minimum wage unit and the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate, for example, have faced staffing and budget cuts that have had an impact on their ability to inspect, investigate and prosecute violations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">This is especially damaging for workers in insecure employment and for ethnic minority groups, who are disproportionately affected by labour abuses, health and safety breaches, and exploitation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">There needs to be national and sectoral strategies to tackle insecure work and workers\u2019 rights violations, as well as the eradication of forced labour, modern slavery, human trafficking and child labour. It must go beyond audits and governance improvements. It demands a cultural shift that builds workplaces rooted in trust, safety and dignity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The government should commit to a long-term employment, financial and human resources plan for the Fair Work Agency. Without resources, it risks becoming a well-intentioned initiative without the ability to deliver real change. <br \/><strong>Ruth Wilkinson<\/strong><br \/>Head of policy and public affairs, Institution of Occupational Safety\u00a0and Health<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\"><strong> Have an opinion on anything you\u2019ve read in the Guardian today? Please <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/global-development\/2025\/oct\/22\/mailto:guardian.letters@theguardian.com?body=Please%20include%20your%20name,%20full%20postal%20address%20and%20phone%20number%20with%20your%20letter%20below.%20Letters%20are%20usually%20published%20with%20the%20author%27s%20name%20and%20city\/town\/village.%20The%20rest%20of%20the%20information%20is%20for%20verification%20only%20and%20to%20contact%20you%20where%20necessary.\" data-link-name=\"in body link \" https:=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>email<\/strong><\/a><strong> us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/tone\/letters\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>letters<\/strong><\/a><strong> section.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The appointment of Matthew Taylor to chair the new Fair Work Agency is a welcome step towards addressing&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3092],"tags":[51,897,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-520174","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jobs","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-jobs","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}