Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is the detection rate for underpayment of the National Minimum Wage by employers; what incentives there are to ensure that employers comply with the National Minimum Wage; and what action they are taking to enforce compliance with, and to prevent underpayment of, the National Minimum Wage.

In 2021/22, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) concluded over 2,800 minimum wage investigations and returned more than £16.3m in arrears to over 120,000 workers. HMRC issued 696 fines totalling £13.2m to businesses who had failed to pay the minimum wage. Where there has been an underpayment, HMRC will instruct the employer to pay workers the arrears owed, and a penalty of up to 200% of arrears.

HMRC’s Promote team issued 7.8 million advisory notices to workers, employers, and their agents increasing awareness of the rules. Since 2015, the Government has ordered employers to repay over £100 million to over 1 million workers.