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A former adviser to Sir Tony Blair whose work underpinned Labour’s push to strengthen workers’ rights will head the new government agency in charge of enforcing tougher employment rules.
Matthew Taylor has been appointed the first chair of the Fair Work Agency (FWA), an enforcement body tasked with ensuring that companies comply with worker protection laws such as the minimum wage.
The agency will replace an array of existing bodies that police different aspects of the jobs market when Labour’s employment rights bill becomes law, bolstering the role of unions and giving workers a sweeping set of new rights.
Taylor was chief adviser on political strategy to Blair in the mid-2000s and is currently head of the NHS Confederation, which represents NHS managers in England.
He also led a 2017 review of modern working practices for the Tory prime minister Theresa May, and then had a strategy role as the independent director of labour market enforcement until 2021.
Many of Taylor’s proposals in the 2017 review are now reflected in Labour’s worker rights bill, including the FWA.
“For years inside and outside government, I argued that employers and workers need a single enforcement body for employment rights . . . This is essential to provide workers with protection and employers with a supportive and level playing field, Taylor said on Tuesday.
The FWA will bring together existing enforcement of workers’ rights by HM Revenue & Customs, the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority and Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate.
It will have an expanded remit to enforce holiday and statutory sick pay, as well as to police compliance with the minimum wage and tackle modern slavery.
Both business groups and unions agree that the jobs market is not well policed, but warn that the new body will only succeed in driving out exploitation if it is given significant funding.
Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said the FWA was “a chance to create a properly resourced body with real teeth” while Peter Cheese, chief executive of the CIPD employers’ body, said it should be “equipped with the right resources and a strong employer voice from the outset”.
Government funding for enforcing worker rights across the three relevant agencies is around £40mn a year with about 560 full-time staff.
Margaret Beels, the director of labour market enforcement, has said “substantial” resources would be needed to create the new agency, rather than simply bringing together the budgets of existing bodies.
Taylor intends to remain in his role as chief executive of the NHS Confederation until the FWA is launched next April.
Kate Dearden, employment rights minister, said Taylor’s experience would be “vital in ensuring this agency delivers real change”.
