PAYROLL news
NMW naming and shaming list released THE DEPARTMENT for Business and Trade (DBT) recently released the latest list of companies which fell afoul of national minimum wage (NMW) regulations and were found to have underpaid staff. The list can be viewed in full here: https://ow.ly/JBBL50QKFsv. This round of naming included over 500 businesses affecting more than 172,000 workers. The top three reported errors were as follows:
l reductions / deductions: 183 employers l unpaid working time: 160 employers l failure to pay the correct rate to apprentices: 82 employers.
Companies who undergo a compliance check from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) can find themselves on this list if they are found to have breached NMW rules. The list shows the number of employees affected, as well as a total underpayment found by HMRC. These underpayments can also be accompanied by a fine for 200% of their value. But bigger than that, the reputational damage of being named on the list can’t be overlooked. The CIPP urges careful interpretation of the list, as initially, the size of the underpayment may seem large. However, when portioned out between the number of employees, it can actually be relatively small. This isn’t to underplay the severity of NMW breaches by any means, as compliance should be the first thing to consider. But payroll professionals are well aware of the small errors that can result in a breach, for example, a manager requiring a certain colour of shirt to be worn for work, resulting in a deduction for NMW purposes. Additionally, a policy paper, jointly from DBT and HMRC, has been updated, detailing the government’s approach to NMW enforcement, including the naming and shaming scheme. You can read this here: https://ow.ly/8BW850QKFwK. You can find more guidance and information on NMW at the following links: https://ow.ly/2qvj50QKFNS, https://ow.ly/BSxS50QKFPA and https://ow.ly/kluT50QKFR6.
Payroll assistant paid themselves an additional £84,848 A PAYROLL assistant for Northern Divers Ltd, Angela Hunter, paid herself an extra £84,848 because she said she was “paid a pittance”. During the pandemic, the team switched from paying employees cash for accommodation costs to using bank transfers. At this point, Hunter added her own name to a list used as part of the process and made more than 200 separate transfers to herself over the course of three years. Hunter was convicted of theft by employee at Hull Magistrates in January and ordered to carry out an unpaid work requirement of 150 hours with a 12-month suspended sentence. The pandemic brought a lot of changes in very quick time frames, and it seems that some processes may have been changed at Northern Divers Ltd without the required oversight and due diligence to prevent fraudulent actors from taking advantage. This should be a lesson that, even during the toughest of times, new processes must have adequate prevention or detection methods in place for improper use. Hunter’s justification concerning the actions were that the managing director, “had been rich and only paid her and the other girls a pittance and when she previously asked for a pay rise gave her one of three per cent, £45 a month.”
Diary dates
5 May 6 May
Last day of tax month 1
First day of tax month 2
Last day for submitting a real time information employer payment summary to apply to tax month 12 Deadline for payment of PAYE and NICs etc to HMRC’s Accounts Office by non-electronic method Deadline for payment of PAYE and NICs etc to HMRC’s Accounts Office by electronic method
19 April
22 April 5 June 6 June
Last day of tax month 2 First day of tax month 3
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | April 2024 | Issue 99 10
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