Government names and shames employers who don’t pay minimum wage

The Government has ‘named and shamed’ 37 employers who have failed to pay their workers the National Minimum Wage.

Those listed include H & M, Abacus Day Nursery and Kings Group LLP in Hertfordshire.

The Government says that between them they owe workers a total of over £177,000 in arrears and have been charged financial penalties totalling over £51,000.

It has already named 55 employers since the new naming regime came into force in October 2013. They had total arrears of over £139,000 and total penalties of over £60,000.

Due to the importance the government places on compliance and enforcement, HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) National Minimum Wage enforcement budget will be increased by a further £3 million in financial year 2015 to 2016 – taking the total to £12.2 million. The extra money will go towards increasing the number of HMRC compliance officers to identify businesses that exploit their workers by paying them below the National Minimum Wage.

Business Minister Jo Swinson said: “Paying less than the minimum wage is illegal, immoral and completely unacceptable. If employers break this law they need to know that we will take tough action by naming, shaming and fining them as well as helping workers recover the hundreds of thousands of pounds in pay owed to them.

“We are also looking at what more we can do to make sure workers are paid fairly in the first place. As well as being publicly named and shamed, employers that fail to pay their workers the National Minimum Wage face penalties of up to £20,000. We are legislating through the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill so that this penalty can be applied to each underpaid worker rather than per employer.”

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