Section 96 — Power to obtain documents or information

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

This version in force from 2026-04-07

Snapshot: 2026-08-24

Reproduced from legislation.gov.uk (Crown Copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0). Amendments made after 2026-08-24 may not be reflected — always check the official text .

(1) The Secretary of State may by notice require a person—

(a) to attend at a specified time and place and to provide information by answering questions;

(b) to provide specified information, or information of a specified description, by a specified date;

(2) The Secretary of State may give a notice under this section to a person only if the Secretary of State has reasonable grounds to believe that—

(a) in the case of a requirement under subsection (1)(a), the person is able to provide information which is necessary for any enforcement purpose;

(b) in the case of a requirement under subsection (1)(b) or (c)—

(i) it is necessary to obtain the information or document (as the case may be) for any enforcement purpose, and

(ii) the person is able to provide it.

(3) In this section “enforcement purpose” means—

(a) the purpose of enabling the Secretary of State to determine whether to exercise any enforcement function;

(b) the purpose of determining whether there has been any non-compliance with relevant labour market legislation;

(c) in the case of a requirement under subsection (1)(c), the purpose of ascertaining whether the documents may be required as evidence in proceedings for any non-compliance with relevant labour market legislation.