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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many businesses his Department has investigated for underpaying staff in the last year.

Enforcement of the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage (NMW) is a priority for this Government. HMRC enforce the NMW on behalf of BEIS; in 2018/19 we increased HMRC’s enforcement budget to a record high of £26.3 million. HMRC responds to 100% of worker complaints.

In the financial year 2017/18, HMRC closed 2,402 cases and identified £15.6 million in arrears of wages for over 200,000 workers. This is the largest amount of money recovered for the highest number of workers since the NMW came into force. HMRC issued financial penalties in 810 of these cases, with a record total value of just under £14.1 million.

Further details are available in the published document below:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/742668/nmw-nlw-enforcement-compliance-report-2018.pdf