The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
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businesses have since paid back what is owed to workers, along with significant penalties, of up to 200% of the amount paid back.
Paul Scully, Minister for Labour Markets, said:
“ We want workers to know that we’re on their side and they must be treated fairly by their employers, which is why paying the legal minimum wage should be non- negotiable for businesses. Today’s 208 businesses, whatever their size, should know better than to short-change hard-working employees, regardless of whether it was intentional or not. ” The highest proportion of errors that resulted in payments less than the minimum wage were deductions that reduce workers’ pay to lower than the legal amount. These are things such as uniforms, training costs, childcare costs and salary sacrifice schemes. These errors can be unintentional, but failure to pay the minimum wage can result in the public naming and shaming of a business no matter how the error occurred. Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has been conducting a series of webinars educating and informing employers about their NMW duties. The press release also points to the guidance on pay that is available on GOV.UK. With the new single enforcement body coming, of which we are awaiting more information, we can expect initiatives to curb minimum wage violations to continue. With the 6.6% rise to National Living Wage (NLW) coming in April 2022, employers will need to be vigilant to ensure they do not fall foul of the rules and end up appearing in future lists published by the government.
An educational bulletin is released alongside the naming round, and it can be found in full here. It explores, in greater detail, the reasons for the underpayments and the amount of employees affected.
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Deadline for Kickstart Scheme applications draws closer 14 December 2021
As of midday on 17 December 2021 employers will not be able to apply for new Kickstart Scheme grants or add more jobs to an existing grant. Unsuccessful applications before this date will have up to midday on this date to reapply. The scheme was extended until March 2022 under the plan for jobs expansion, assisting employers in supporting and developing young workers into new jobs. Successful applications will need to complete grant agreements by 7 January 2022, inform the Department for Work and Pensions of the vacancies by 31 January 2022 and start the young person on the job by 31 March 2022. Other employment schemes are also still available.
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Low Pay Commission asks the question: Is excluding au pairs from minimum wage requirements still correct? 14 December 2021
The Low Pay Commission (LPC) has released a short blog summarising the investigations undertaken into the use of the minimum wage exemption for live in workers, treated as part of the family.
As part of its 2021 remit, the LPC were asked to “‘gather evidence on the application of the live -in domestic worker exemption to minimum wage entitlement”. More specifically, LPC were a sked to investigate how the exemptions impacts equalities and workers who are not in the au pair sector.
The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Payroll: need to know
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