Nearly 4 in 10 UK workers suffer mental harm as Watchdog exposes widespread rights violations

The landmark report, produced by a team of researchers at University College London (UCL), is the first to be commissioned by the newly established Fair Work Agency (FWA), the government’s single enforcement body for workers’ rights.

While the research specifically aimed to measure employment rights violations across the UK, it provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date picture of modern working conditions. The findings track everything from payroll non-compliance, like denied holiday pay, to physical workplace injuries.

According to the study, a staggering seven in 10 workers (70%) - equivalent to between 26.6 million and 28.7 million people - have experienced at least one adverse workplace issue over the last two years.

Experiencing bullying and harassment is one of the three most common issues workers say they face. Photograph: iStock

The single most common issue reported was negative mental health caused by work, affecting roughly 38 per cent of the workforce. The next three most prevalent problems identified were working unpaid extra hours, failing to receive an employment contract, and experiencing workplace bullying and harassment.

The findings demonstrate that experiencing a breach of rights is "not limited to a select group of vulnerable workers," according to the study's authors.

"Our study shows that huge numbers of people across the UK are having their employment rights violated, and even more are being harmed in other ways at their workplace," said report co-lead Dr. Krisztián Pósch (UCL Security and Crime Science).

"These issues are complex, as are the laws and regulations around worker protections, which poses significant challenges for making enforcement more effective."

The FWA was launched to streamline regulatory oversight by consolidating several previously separate governing bodies into a single watchdog. While its core legal remit focuses on enforcing statutory rights - ranging from minimum wage violations to severe labour exploitation and modern slavery - the report highlights a broader spectrum of workplace harms, including psychological distress, that fundamentally undermine British working conditions.

To gather the data, the UCL research team surveyed a representative sample of over 4,000 UK workers regarding their experiences between 2023 and 2025, complementing the quantitative data with a series of in-depth interviews. The final analysis uncovered an array of violations that cost employees both time and money while actively damaging their health.

Responding to the findings, Matthew Taylor, chair of the Fair Work Agency’s advisory board, said: "This is an important and timely research report, with many of the findings highly relevant to the work of the newly established Fair Work Agency. Having an improved understanding of the scale and nature of labour market non-compliance is vital to informing the FWA's operational and strategic response."

“To protect vulnerable workers, we must tackle deliberately non-compliant businesses while helping achieve a level playing field for good employers through better education and awareness of their employment rights obligations."

Working Lives: the scale and nature of labour market non-compliance and other work-based harms in the UK report is here