Record 22,400 minimum wage workers to receive millions in backpay 09 July 2018
New figures released show that 239 employers have been found to have underpaid National Living and Minimum wage to 22,400 employees.
The back pay identified by HMRC was for more workers than in any previous single naming list and has generated record fines for employers of £1.97m.
Employers underpaid workers by taking deductions from wages for uniforms, underpaying apprentices, misusing the accommodation offset, using the wrong time periods for calculating pay and failing to pay travel time and amounts to £1.4 million in back pay Business Minister Andrew Griffiths said “Our priority is making sure workers know their rights and are getting the pay they worked hard for. Employers who don’t do the right thing face fines as well as being hit with the bill for backpay. The UK’s lowest paid workers have had the fastest wage growth in 20 years thanks to the introduction of the National Living Wage and today’s list serves as a reminder to all employers to check they are getting their workers’ pay right.” Funding for minimum wage enforcement has more than doubled since 2015, with the government set to spend £26.3m in 2018/19.HMRC has launched a series of webinars, available on GOV.UK, to help employers check that they are complying with the law. The government is currently running a campaign to raise awareness of the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage rates, which increased on 1 April 2018, as well as encouraging workers who have been underpaid to complain to HMRC. The campaign website has had more than 600,000 visits since the campaign kicked off on 1 April. Employers who pay workers less than the minimum wage must pay back arrears of wages to the worker at current minimum wage rates and face financial penalties of up to 200% of arrears, capped at £20,000 per worker. For more information about your pay, or if you think you might be being underpaid, get advice and guidance here. Workers can also seek advice from workplace experts Acas.
GOV.UK has issued a full press release.
CIPP comment
The CIPP offer a one day training course covering National Minimum Wage and other worker entitlements. Click here to book or for more information.
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“It’s like there’s a river between school and work and there’s no bridge across it” 25 July 2018
The title reflects the profound analysis of one young person in one of the evidence-gathering visits by the Low Pay Commission (LPC) when discussing the barriers to entering employment.
‘Access to work and access to workers’ is one of the recently published National Minimum Wage blogs where Simon Sapper’s reflects on his first visit as a new Commissioner.
According to the blog small business representatives told the LPC how things had changed dramatically in the local economy over the past two years. Other EU nationals had disappeared. Job ads that used to yield 60 or 70 responses now produced one or two candidates. Firms have apparently started to offer non-pay incentives – from gym membership to flexitime – to make themselves more attractive. In-work encouragement for training and promotion was appreciated by workers at a local manufacturer.
The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Payroll: need to know
cipp.org.uk
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