Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many company directors have been convicted of a criminal offence under section 31 of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 in each of the last 12 years.

The Government is determined that everyone who is entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) receives it.

HMRC continues to crack down on employers who ignore the law, ensuring that workers receive the wages they are entitled to.

A majority of NMW cases are subject to civil (non-criminal) sanctions, which include penalties of up to 200 per cent of the arrears, and public naming.

Prosecutions are reserved for the most serious offences. They can cause delays in recovering arrears for workers and do not necessarily guarantee payment. The data held by HMRC does not provide further breakdown as to the legal position of the individual who has been convicted of a criminal offence under section 31 of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998.

Full details of criminal prosecutions from 2007/2008 to 2020/2021 are provided as supplementary data (Table 13) to the annual report “National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage: Government evidence on enforcement and compliance, 2021”, published in May 2022. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-living-wage-and-national-minimum-wage-government-evidence-on-enforcement-and-compliance-2021.