Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, in how many cases businesses in Wales were found to be non-compliant with minimum wage legislation in each year since 2019.
All businesses – irrespective of their size or business sector – are responsible for paying the correct minimum wage to their staff. The government is clear that anyone entitled to be paid the minimum wage should receive it and takes robust enforcement action against employers who do not pay their staff correctly. HMRC enforces minimum wage regulations on behalf of DBT. Regional data for Wales has been provided in Table 1.
Table 1: National Minimum Wage arrears, workers identified, and penalties issued in Wales, 2019/20 to 2021/22.
Financial Year | Region | Arrears | Number of workers | Penalties issued |
2019/20 | Wales | £325,419 | 4,227 | 41 |
2020/21 | Wales | £262,408 | 3,895 | 14 |
2021/22 | Wales | £69,769 | 661 | 43 |