Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) current and (b) former employees have contacted the national minimum wage unit in relation to alleged non-compliance by their employer in each month in each of the last three years.
The Government is determined that everyone who is entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) receives it.
All businesses, irrespective of size or business sector, are responsible for paying the correct minimum wage to their staff.
If anyone thinks they are not receiving at least the minimum wage, they can contact Acas, in confidence, on 0300 123 1100 or submit a query online using the link https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pay-and-work-rights-complaints .
The Government has more than trebled annual funding for minimum wage enforcement since 2014, providing a total budget of £26.3m in 2018-19. The additional investment has enabled a significant expansion of resources dedicated to enforcing the NMW.
The table below provides a breakdown of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) staff working in NMW enforcement, by month, for the last 3 years.
Other staff across HMRC also contribute to enforcing the NMW, including lawyers, technical advisors and those specialising in criminal investigations. These staff are not included in these numbers.
| 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 | 2018-2019 |
April | 256 | 388 | 403 |
May | 257 | 389 | 399 |
June | 270 | 395 | 402 |
July | 269 | 394 | 419 |
August | 271 | 396 | 418 |
September | 279 | 395 | 424 |
October | 288 | 394 | 424 |
November | 287 | 393 | 438 |
December | 321 | 390 | 435 |
January | 350 | 409 | 421 |
February | 346 | 415 | 424 |
March | 352 | 412 | 429 |
HMRC do not specifically record data on current and former employees when logging complaints. The table below shows the total number of complaints received from workers by HMRC, for each month, for the last 3 years.
| 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 | 2018-2019 |
April | 143 | 414 | 808 |
May | 236 | 310 | 611 |
June | 175 | 299 | 598 |
July | 206 | 454 | 617 |
August | 165 | 341 | 213 |
September | 176 | 342 | 342 |
October | 219 | 501 | 302 |
November | 154 | 626 | 287 |
December | 147 | 550 | 331 |
January | 174 | 665 | 266 |
February | 313 | 754 | 297 |
March | 465 | 771 | 252 |
Total | 2573 | 6027 | 4924 |