Angela Rayner’s ‘jobs police’ get powers to arrest folks, use ‘cheap power’ and search buildings to implement Labour’s new employees’ rights guidelines
Angela Rayner‘s ‘jobs police’ have powers to arrest people, use ‘reasonable’ force and seize documents while conducting workplace searches, it has been confirmed.
The Fair Work Agency (FWA) is being established as part of Labour’s overhaul of workers’ rights via the Employment Rights Act.
The legislation, which was spearheaded by Ms Rayner before her resignation as deputy prime minister last year, began to take effect this week.
A new document published by the Government has now detailed the powers that the FWA – dubbed Labour’s ‘jobs police’ – has to enforce workplace laws.
It states that officers will have the power to carry out ‘unannounced investigations’, and enter premises – with or without consent – through the obtaining of a warrant under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984.
Force may be used ‘where reasonable and necessary’ by FWA officers, while they can ‘search anyone’ and ‘seize material’, and also ‘arrest persons suspected of labour market offences’, the document adds.
A separate Government document states the FWA has been tasked by ministers with ‘identifying where legislative, operational or strategic changes may be required’, while ‘informing future remit expansion of the FWA’.
Business groups sounded the alarm about the ‘broad’ powers of the FWA.
The Employment Rights Act, which was spearheaded by Angela Rayner before her resignation as deputy prime minister last year, began to take effect this week
Alex Hall-Chen, from the Institute of Directors, said: ‘The Fair Work Agency will already have significantly broader powers than the enforcement bodies it has replaced, such as the authority to enter business premises without a warrant.’
Tina McKenzie, of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: ‘Small businesses are already facing an enormous amount of change through the Employment Rights Act.
‘What they need from the Agency right now is clear guidance and compliance support and not the prospect of a broader enforcement reach down the line.’
Senior Tory MP Andrew Griffith, the shadow business secretary, said: ‘The remit letter simply confirms it will inevitably seek to add more staff and more red tape, raising unemployment still further. This is clearly a blank cheque to expand its powers.
‘Conservatives will scrap this unwarranted body and give its staff first-hand experience of finding a new job!’
A Government spokesman said it was ‘simply bringing existing powers into one place to ensure businesses know where to turn and spend less time on bureaucracy.’
They added: ‘The Fair Work Agency is there to take action when needed against rogue employers who undercut the vast majority of businesses who comply with the law.
‘That’s fair for workers, and creates a level-playing field for businesses too.’
