How to Complain About Unpaid Wages Through the New Fair Work Agency

If your employer hasn't paid you correctly — missing wages, unpaid holiday pay, or an unlawful deduction — there's now a single government agency built specifically to enforce your rights, rather than leaving you to navigate a patchwork of separate bodies.

What the Fair Work Agency actually is

The Fair Work Agency began operating on 7 April 2026 as the UK's new unified enforcement body for employment rights, created under the Employment Rights Act 2025, according to Pinsent Masons' timeline of the Act's rollout. It consolidates enforcement powers that used to sit across several separate bodies — covering the minimum wage, statutory sick pay, holiday pay and other core rights — into one agency with the ability to investigate, issue penalties, and take legal action on your behalf, without you needing to fund an employment tribunal claim yourself in every case.

This matters because previously, many workers with legitimate underpayment claims never pursued them — the cost and complexity of an employment tribunal put people off, especially for smaller amounts. A single agency with its own investigatory and enforcement powers changes that calculation.

Step-by-step: how to raise a complaint

1. Gather your evidence first. Payslips, your contract or written statement of terms, timesheets, and any messages discussing the issue with your employer.
2. Raise it with your employer directly, in writing, before escalating — this creates a paper trail and gives them a chance to correct a genuine error.
3. Check gov.uk for the current Fair Work Agency complaint route — as a newly launched body, the exact online reporting process may still be evolving, so check the live guidance rather than relying on older Acas-only routes.
4. Note the time limits. Many underpayment claims still carry a limitation period (historically three months less one day from the underpayment, for related tribunal claims), so don't sit on a complaint.
5. Ask about back pay. The Agency can pursue recovery of money you're owed, not just a change going forward.
6. Keep working, where safe to do so, while your complaint is investigated — raising a legitimate complaint about pay is itself protected, and dismissal for it can amount to unfair dismissal.

What else falls under its remit

Beyond unpaid wages, the Fair Work Agency's enforcement powers extend to the wider set of Employment Rights Act reforms rolling out through 2026 — including the day-one Statutory Sick Pay changes, day-one paternity and unpaid parental leave rights, and the simplified trade union recognition process introduced from 6 April 2026, per Clyde & Co's 2026 workplace law roundup. Whistleblowers raising sexual harassment concerns also gained formal "qualifying disclosure" protection from the same date.

International comparison

The US equivalent is the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division, which similarly investigates unpaid wage claims but operates within a far more fragmented state-by-state minimum wage and leave landscape. Australia's Fair Work Ombudsman is arguably the closest model — a single national body with strong investigatory powers that has existed since 2009, which the UK's new agency is broadly modelled on in spirit. Most EU member states rely on labour inspectorates with narrower remits than either the UK or Australian single-agency approach.

Key Numbers

• 7 April 2026 — date the Fair Work Agency began operating
• 18 December 2025 — date the Employment Rights Act 2025 became law
• 6 April 2026 — effective date for day-one sick pay, paternity leave and whistleblower protections

Sources

• Pinsent Masons — Employment Rights Bill timeline for 2026 and beyond
• Clyde & Co — UK workplace law changes in 2026
• Acas — Employment Rights Act 2025

Educational content only — not financial advice.