title: "The Fair Work Agency launches April 7. Hospitality is their #1 target. Here's your checklist." slug: fair-work-agency-hospitality-checklist-april-2026 date: 2026-03-28 sector: hospitality tags: [Fair Work Agency, FWA, hospitality, NMW, SSP, holiday pay, tips, compliance, April 2026] description: "The Fair Work Agency formally launches on April 7, 2026, consolidating NMW, SSP, and tipping enforcement in one body — with hospitality as its explicit primary target. Here's the five-point checklist every UK pub and restaurant owner needs before next Tuesday."

The Fair Work Agency launches April 7. Hospitality is their #1 target. Here's your checklist.

On April 7, 2026, the UK government launches a new enforcement body most hospitality owners have never heard of. The Fair Work Agency takes over from HMRC's NMW team — and it's bigger, better resourced, and has a broader mandate than anything that came before it.

If you run a pub, restaurant, café or hotel, you are their primary target for Year One.

Here's what the FWA is, what it can do, and the five compliance areas you need to check before next Tuesday.

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What Is the Fair Work Agency?

The FWA consolidates three existing enforcement functions into one body:

1. HMRC's National Minimum Wage enforcement team — previously the body that investigated wage underpayment
2. The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) — enforcement against labour exploitation
3. Employment Agency Standards — oversight of recruitment agencies and umbrella companies

The critical change: the FWA's mandate extends beyond wages. It also enforces Statutory Sick Pay, holiday pay records, and the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023. HMRC's NMW team never had this remit. The FWA does.

Powers include:

• Workplace inspection (unannounced)
• Civil fines (no court required, no upper limit)
• Public naming and shaming on a government register
• Recovery of arrears directly on behalf of workers
• Criminal prosecution referral

There is no grace period. Enforcement begins April 7.

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Why Hospitality?

Hospitality has the highest documented rate of National Minimum Wage underpayment in the UK economy. HMRC's own data shows food and accommodation businesses account for a disproportionate share of NMW non-compliance cases annually.

The FWA has specifically identified hospitality as the priority enforcement sector for its first year. This is not speculation — it is stated policy.

What makes hospitality uniquely exposed:

• High proportion of minimum-wage workers
• Common practices that inadvertently breach NMW (deductions, unpaid briefings, uniform costs)
• Zero-hours and casual workers now entitled to SSP from April 6
• Tipping practices frequently non-compliant with the Tips Act (October 2024)
• Holiday pay records typically manual and incomplete

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Your Five-Point FWA Compliance Checklist

1. National Minimum Wage — Are Tipped Workers Getting £12.71/hr Base?

From April 1, the National Living Wage rises to £12.71 per hour for workers aged 21+.

Critical: tips do not count toward NMW. The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act is explicit on this. Every tipped worker must receive at least £12.71/hr in direct wages before any tip allocation.

Common violations the FWA will investigate:

• Pre-shift briefings: mandatory 15-minute briefing before service begins = unpaid work time = NMW breach
• Uniform deductions: where staff pay for uniforms and this brings them below NMW
• On-call breaks: lunch breaks where staff cannot leave the premises or must remain reachable

The penalty: employers must repay 100% of underpaid wages, plus a fine of 200% of the underpayment (up to £20,000 per worker).

2. SSP From Day One — Including Zero-Hours Staff

From April 6, Statutory Sick Pay becomes a day-one right under the Employment Rights Act 2025.

The three-day waiting period — which has existed since 1983 — is abolished. Every eligible worker who falls sick gets SSP from the first day of illness.

Critically: zero-hours workers are eligible. Any worker who earns above the SSP lower earnings limit (£123/week) gets SSP from day one, even on a zero-hours contract.

For a busy Saturday kitchen where a prep chef calls in sick — that's payable from day one, not day four.

Action before April 6:

• Update your absence/sickness policy to remove any reference to a three-day wait
• Confirm your payroll software has updated its SSP defaults
• Brief your managers: the rule changes Monday

3. Holiday Pay Records — Mandatory From April 6

Holiday pay record-keeping becomes a mandatory statutory requirement from April 6. Employers must maintain records of holiday entitlement, leave taken, and pay for each worker on a 28-day rolling basis.

For most hospitality businesses, this is manual and incomplete. An FWA inspection can request these records as part of a standard audit.

The risk: if records don't exist, the FWA will default to assuming non-compliance.

4. Written Tipping Policy — Already Required Since October 2024

The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 came into force in October 2024. It requires employers to have a written tipping policy covering how tips, gratuities, and service charges are allocated and distributed.

Most hospitality businesses still do not have one.

The FWA has explicit tipping enforcement in its mandate from day one. An inspector who discovers no written policy exists will be looking at your entire tipping and tronc system.

The written policy should cover:

• How tips are collected (cash vs card vs service charge)
• How they are allocated (direct to worker, tronc system, etc.)
• The timeline for payment
• How records are kept

5. Tronc System Audit

If your venue operates a tronc system (a formal arrangement for distributing tips managed by a tronc-master), review it before April 7.

FWA inspectors are specifically trained to audit tronc systems against the Tips Act requirements. Key compliance tests:

• Is the tronc-master genuinely independent of management?
• Are workers receiving their full entitlement?
• Is the allocation basis documented and fair?
• Are tronc payments made in a timely manner (within one month of the end of the month in which tips were received)?

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Phase 2 on the Horizon: October 2026

The Tips Act has a Phase 2 coming in October 2026 that most hospitality owners don't know about.

From October 1, 2026, employers must:

• Consult workers before creating or changing a tipping policy
• Review the policy every three years
• Provide an anonymised summary of consultation feedback

The tribunal risk: up to £5,000 per worker for failure to consult. For a 10-person restaurant, that's a £50,000 exposure.

Most venues haven't heard of Phase 2. It's now six months away.

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The April Cost Picture

The FWA launch does not arrive in isolation. Hospitality is facing its most significant compliance and cost pressure in years this week:

Date	Event	Impact
April 1	NLW rises to £12.71/hr	+£20,800/yr for 20 staff FT
April 1	40% business rates relief ENDS	Up to £110k discount gone
April 6	SSP day-one right	New costs, new liability
April 6	Holiday pay records mandatory	Admin requirement
April 7	Fair Work Agency launches	Inspections begin

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Don't Try to Track This Manually

The regulations affecting UK hospitality now span HMRC, the FWA, Employment Tribunals, the HSE, the FSA, the ICO, and local council enforcement. Every one of these bodies is active.

ComplianceAlert monitors all of them for UK hospitality businesses — and sends you an alert when something changes that affects your business. NMW, FWA updates, SSP changes, tipping law amendments, business rates changes — one dashboard.

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This guide reflects regulations in force as of March 2026. ComplianceAlert monitors ongoing updates. For legal advice specific to your business, consult a qualified employment solicitor.