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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 3 January (HL4167), whether all of the penalties and sums required to remedy underpayments have been paid; whether, and if so how many of, the employers subject to penalties or a requirement to remedy underpayments failed to do so; and what criteria are applied in determining whether or not to prosecute defaulting employers.

HM Revenue and Customs maintains data on arrears recovered in all cases – and actively pursues recovery through the civil courts where this is not paid. Due to the way this data is maintained, the requested figures could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

The criteria for prosecuting National Minimum Wage offences are outlined in the Government’s minimum wage enforcement policy document, which can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/539577/bis-16-373-enforcement-policy-document-national-minimum-wage.pdf.