Minimum Wage

(asked on 13th July 2020) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many prosecutions for non-payment of the National Minimum Wage there have been (a) in total since 2010 and (b) in each year since 2010.


Answered by
Jesse Norman Portrait
Jesse Norman
This question was answered on 16th July 2020

HMRC enforce the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW) in line with the law and policy set out by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

All businesses, irrespective of size or business sector, are responsible for paying the correct minimum wage to their staff. HMRC will not hesitate to take action to ensure that workers receive the pay to which they are legally entitled.

A majority of NMW cases relate to civil (non-criminal) offences, which attract penalties of up to 200% of the identified wage arrears and public naming.

Alongside civil sanctions, HMRC have a clear approach for how they consider prosecutions in appropriate cases involving potential criminal breaches in the most serious cases.

Where potential criminality has occurred, HMRC refer these cases to the Crown Prosecution Service who decide whether or not to prosecute.

Since 2010-11 HMRC have completed nearly 25,000 NMW investigations, identifying over £100 million in national minimum wage arrears for over 950,000 workers. During this period, HMRC investigations have also led to the successful prosecution of 8 employers for NMW related offences. A yearly breakdown of NMW prosecutions is included in the table below.

Year

Number of prosecutions

2010/11

1

2011/12

0

2012/13

1

2013/14

0

2014/15

0

2015/16

0

2016/17

4

2017/18

1

2018/19

0

2019/20

1

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