On 11 May 2026, the Fair Work Agency (FWA) published an independent report, Working Lives: the scale and nature of labour market non-compliance and other work-based harms in the UK.  The report is based on research commissioned by the former Office of the Director of Labour Market Enforcement (DLME) and led by University College London (UCL).

The findings indicate that, in the two years to summer 2025, 14% of UK workers experienced at least one breach of core employment rights now overseen by the FWA.  These include the prohibition on charging work-finding fees to agency workers, the entitlement to the National Minimum Wage, provision of itemised payslips, and the right to written terms and conditions of employment.

Beyond these core rights, the report examines a wider range of harmful workplace practices, such as unlawful deductions from pay, unpaid overtime, difficulties in taking leave, bullying and harassment, physical injury, and work-related impacts on mental health.  Whether lawful or not, such experiences negatively affect workers’ wellbeing and overall quality of working life. The report estimates that around seven in ten workers, equivalent to between 26.6 and 28.7 million people in the UK, experienced at least one of these issues.

Those workers facing at least two risk factors, such as low income, gig or other atypical work, migrant status, or employment in small workplaces were disproportionately affected.   More than a quarter of these workers reported breaches of their employment rights.

The scale of both unlawful and potentially unlawful behaviour suggests that breaches of workers’ rights are widespread, regardless of employer intent. The writers of the report argue that this challenges the traditional assumption that non-compliant employers are a small minority and recommends increasing the visibility of the FWA to support more proactive enforcement and investigation, alongside improving communication about workers’ rights and the mechanisms available for reporting concerns.

For more advice, please contact our Employment Team.