Not before April 2027. The Fair Work Agency was launched on 7 April 2026 and today enforces the national minimum wage, the rules for employment agencies and employment businesses, and gangmaster licensing. The government says enforcement of statutory holiday pay will start in 2027, with the timing subject to the public consultation that closed on 22 September 2026, and that it will not start before April 2027. Until then a worker with a holiday pay concern is directed to Acas. (Source, business.gov.uk, Fair Work Agency, last updated 7 August 2026.)
The Department for Business and Trade published the consultation "Make Work Pay, holiday pay compliance and enforcement" on 30 June 2026 and closed it at 11:59pm on 22 September 2026. It asked for views on how the Fair Work Agency should uphold the right to statutory holiday pay, on the design of the enforcement powers, and on the support and guidance the agency can give employers. The government response has not yet been published. (Source, the consultation page on gov.uk.)
The consultation document sets out the proposals. The agency would investigate underpayments, recover arrears on a worker's behalf and issue notices requiring payment of the arrears and a penalty. The proposed claim period is six years, the default in the Act and the same period for which employers have had to keep holiday records since 6 April 2026. The proposed penalty is 200% of the arrears for each worker, in effect 100% where the full arrears and half the penalty are paid within 14 days, with a maximum of £20,000 for each worker and a minimum of £100 for each case. The government describes the approach as supportive first, helping businesses to comply and taking punitive action where necessary. (Sources, the consultation document; the six-year record-keeping duty, Acas, Employment Rights Act 2025.)
What it means for an agency running a temp desk. The employment business is the employer of its temporary workers for holiday pay, so the arrears and the penalty would sit with the agency, not the client. Holiday records for every worker must already be kept for six years. Rolled-up holiday pay for irregular-hours and part-year workers is lawful under the 2024 rules provided it is shown as its own line on the payslip and explained in the Key Information Document, so the calculation and the payslip wording are worth checking now rather than in 2027. And where holiday pay has been underpaid, voluntary correction before enforcement starts is the cheapest route. (Sources, the consultation document above; holiday entitlement and pay rules; the 2024 reforms guidance.)
The hub keeps this page current against government sources. Read the Fair Work Agency guide for recruitment agencies and the Employment Rights Act timeline. BIOR Agency Members have the Holiday Pay and Working Time for Agency Workers 2026 guide in their library from today, with the enforcement timetable and the payslip check. Membership includes the certification assessment, and every certified agency can be checked at ior.org/verify.
Written by The BIOR Membership Team. Published 30 September 2026. Sources checked 30 September 2026.