Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent estimate he has made of the number of workers in the (a) hospitality and (b) retail sectors who are paid less than the (i) national living wage and (ii) national minimum wage as a result of being required to work beyond the end of their shift.

The ‘Low Pay Commission: Non-Compliance and Enforcement of the National Minimum Wage’ report identified that, in total, there were 44,000 workers in the retail sector and 46,600 workers in the hospitality sector who were underpaid the National Living Wage in 2016. However, we are unable to provide a breakdown of these totals according to the cause of the underpayment.

The Government is committed to ensuring that workers are paid fairly. HMRC’s National Minimum Wage enforcement budget has doubled since 2015-16; rising to £26.3 million for 2018-19. Last year, HMRC identified £15.6 million in arrears of wages owed to over 200,000 workers; the largest amount of money recovered for the highest number of workers since the National Minimum Wage came in to force.

HMRC investigate where they believe an employer is not paying the minimum wage, which includes following up every worker complaint they receive. Any worker who is concerned about being underpaid should contact the ACAS helpline (on 0300 123 1100) for free and confidential advice, and to make a complaint