The real cost – both in money and time – of travel to and from work (in care and other peripatetic industries) was spelt out. One youth worker asked: Why do they pay young people less when their cost of living is often more?
The Taylor premium proposal was discussed (the idea of a higher minimum wage for hours which are not guaranteed)? One small business owner told the LPC:
“We can either take a hit on guaranteeing more time than people work or paying more for the unexpectedly extra hours worked. It’s a risk either way”.
The new Commissioner Simon Sapper said:
“You can look at all the research papers and table of stats you like, but there is something distinctive about sitting down and talking directly to people affected by what the Commission does.
Given that this is a key part of gathering the evidence on which we make our recommendations to government, these visits to various parts of the UK to do just that – meet and talk to people affected by the National Living Wage and the other minimum pay rates.
This year we also need to talk to people about the youth rates and Matthew Taylor’s idea of a higher minimum wage for non-guaranteed hours.
The visit I was on is just one of several that we will be undertaking over the year. Full details are here. If you want to meet with the team, we will do our best to make it happen. Email your request to joseph.cooper@lowpay.gov.uk.
You can read the full blog on Simon’s first visit here.
CIPP comment The CIPP policy team is hosting a policy Think Tank roundtable on 9 August which provides some full, fellow and chartered members the opportunity to meet with the Low Pay Commissioner to discuss experiences relating to the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage.
Included will be a detailed discussion about the Taylor Report’s proposal of a premium element for non-guaranteed work and where the current thinking is on this idea.
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At least 800 employers with ‘significant’ sleep-in underpayments identified 25 July 2018
People Management obtained information under a Freedom of Information request which revealed that at least 800 employers signed up to HMRC’s sleep-in wages disclosure scheme before the Court of Appeal ruled that such shifts did not need to be paid at national minimum wage (NMW).
The Freedom of Information request revealed that 835 employers entered the Social Care Compliance Scheme (SCCS) between 1 November 2017 and 30 April 2018.
The SCCS was launched on 1 November 2017 to allow social care providers that may have paid staff below the legal minimum for sleep-in shifts – essentially, where care workers are required to stay on work premises overnight – to tell the taxman about it. By making such a disclosure, businesses could avoid being fined – currently 200 per cent of the amount owed, capped at £20,000 per worker – or added to the periodically published name-and-shame list of employers who have failed to pay staff at least NMW.
In its first six months, the SCCS also identified a total £735,494 of arrears owed to 479 workers, although the scheme required employers to disclose all potential NMW breaches, not just sleep-in shift underpayments.
The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Payroll: need to know
cipp.org.uk
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