What are the rules for running a recruitment agency in the UK in 2026?
On 7 April 2026, state enforcement of employment rights in the UK changed structurally. The Fair Work Agency (FWA) launched as a single enforcement body, absorbing the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate (EAS), the regulator recruitment agencies dealt with for decades, and replacing the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA). HMRC's National Minimum Wage enforcement now operates under FWA oversight, with the full transfer completing in 2027.
For recruiters this is not a rebrand. Three regulators with different priorities and postbags have become one body with a single view of your business, and its remit grows as the Employment Rights Act 2025 phases in through 2027.
What the FWA Enforces
Agency conduct. Everything the EAS enforced still applies, the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003, the Employment Agencies Act 1973, and the rules on fees, advertising and worker protections that flow from them.
Licensing. Licensing obligations that sat with the GLAA continue for the sectors they covered, including agriculture and the fresh food supply chain, alongside enforcement against labour exploitation.
Pay. National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage enforcement continues through HMRC under FWA oversight. Statutory Sick Pay changed in April 2026 (day-one entitlement, no lower earnings limit) and sits in the same landscape.
Coming next. The government consulted, until 22 September 2026, on giving the FWA the power to enforce statutory holiday pay from 2027, not before April 2027, including investigating up to six years of underpayments. Umbrella company regulation is also listed for 2027, with the FWA as the enforcing body. The government's response to the holiday pay consultation has not been published at the date of this review.
Powers and Sanctions
The FWA inherits the full toolkit of its predecessors.
- Warning and nudge letters.
- Civil penalties (National Minimum Wage underpayment carries a penalty of 200% of arrears, up to £20,000 per worker).
- Licence refusal and revocation.
- Prohibition orders banning individuals from running an employment business for up to ten years.
- Labour market enforcement undertakings and orders.
- Prosecution.
- Public naming of non-compliant businesses.
What is genuinely new is joined-up intelligence. A complaint about one part of your operation, a pay query, an advert, or a KID, can now surface issues in another because the same body sees all of it.
The consistent lesson from every enforcement regime is that the businesses that suffer are rarely the deliberate offenders. They are the ones that cannot evidence compliance quickly when asked.
Keeping Up as the Rules Change
The enforcement landscape is moving faster than at any time in a generation. BIOR tracks every change that affects recruiters in the free FWA & Employment Rights Hub, plain-English guidance, no login required, updated every week.
Start with the ERA timeline every agency should pin to the wall and the free 12-point FWA compliance health check.
Where BIOR Stands
The BIOR certification assessment is written against the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 and the Agency Workers Regulations 2010, with gov.uk and legislation.gov.uk as its sources, and it is kept current as the law changes. The BIOR Code of Professional & Ethical Conduct includes an express duty to co-operate with the FWA.
Certified agencies commit to the standards inspectors look for and can evidence them.
If you want your agency to demonstrate that standard, to clients and to the regulator, start with Agency Membership & Certification.
Questions people ask
Who enforces the rules for recruitment agencies in the UK?
The Fair Work Agency, since 7 April 2026. It took over the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate's role on the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 and the Employment Agencies Act 1973, the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority's licensing, and oversight of HMRC's minimum wage enforcement.
What can the Fair Work Agency do to a recruitment agency?
Send warning letters, impose civil penalties (a National Minimum Wage underpayment carries a penalty of 200% of the arrears, up to £20,000 per worker), refuse or revoke a licence, apply for a prohibition order banning a person from running an employment business for up to ten years, use labour market enforcement undertakings and orders, prosecute, and name non-compliant businesses publicly.
Does BIOR membership protect an agency from enforcement?
No. Membership of a professional body is voluntary and BIOR is not a regulator. The certification assessment tests an agency's processes against the Conduct Regulations and the Agency Workers Regulations, and the Code includes a duty to co-operate with the Fair Work Agency, so a certified agency can evidence its compliance quickly when asked.
Written by The BIOR Membership Team. Last reviewed 1 October 2026 against gov.uk and legislation.gov.uk.