Government names employers who fail to pay minimum wage
Employers who owe their workers thousands of pounds for failing to pay them the correct National Minimum Wage have been named and shamed.
Today (8 June 2014), a further 25 employers who failed to pay their employees the minimum wage have been named under the new regime introduced last October 2013, which makes it easier to name and shame wrongdoers. Between them they owe workers more than £43,000 in arrears and in addition have to pay financial penalties totalling over £21,000.
Business Minister Jenny Willott said:
Paying less than the minimum wage is not only wrong, it’s illegal. If employers break the law they need to know that they will face tough consequences.
Any worker who is entitled to the minimum wage should receive it. If anyone suspects they are not being paid the wage they are legally entitled to they should call the Pay and Work Rights helpline on 0800 917 2368.
The government has introduced a series of tougher measures to crack down on employers that break National Minimum Wage law. As well as being publicly named and shamed, employers that fail to pay their workers the National Minimum Wage also face new penalties of up to £20,000 - 4 times higher than before.
The government also plans to legislate in the new parliamentary session so that employers can also be given penalties of up to £20,000 for each individual worker they have underpaid, rather than the maximum penalty applying to each employer. This will mean if an employer underpays 10 workers, they could face penalties of up to £200,000.
The 25 employers are:
- Christine Cadden and Nicola Banks of Renaissance, Wirral, neglected to pay £7,310.65 to 3 workers
- Alan King and John King of Arthur Simpson & Co, Bradford, neglected to pay £6,426.12 to a worker
- Central Heating Services Ltd, Hampshire, neglected to pay £6,200.28 to 4 workers
- Cargilfield School Ltd, Edinburgh, neglected to pay £3,739.58 to a worker
- A2ZEE Construction Ltd, Cramlington, neglected to pay £3,375.51 to 14 workers
- Mr and Mrs Balasco of Eugenio, Bristol, neglected to pay £3,037.53 to 2 workers
- Mr and Mrs Hampton of The Wheatsheaf Inn at Onneley, Crewe, Cheshire, neglected to pay £2,057.88 to 4 workers
- Steven Stainton of Steven Stainton Joinery, Cumbria, neglected to pay £1,415.82 to a worker
- Runbaro Ltd, Swindon, neglected to pay £1,413.88 to a worker
- Satwinder Singh Khatter and Tejinder Singh Khatter of The Bath Hotel, Reading, neglected to pay £1,237.79 to 2 workers
- Richard Last of Classic Carpentry, Godalming, neglected to pay £1,236.72 to a worker
- We are Mop! Ltd, London, neglected to pay £1,018.05 to 2 workers
- Mrs Sue English of Legends Hairdressers, Colchester, neglected to pay £823.40 to a worker
- Saftdwin Ltd, Hampshire, neglected to pay £806.37 to 2 workers
- Masterpart Distribution Ltd, Essex, neglected to pay £718.62 to a worker
- Perth Hotels Ltd, Perth, neglected to pay £556.80 to a worker
- Bryants Nurseries Ltd, Hertfordshire, neglected to pay £494.07 to a worker
- Dove Mill Retail Outlet Ltd, Bolton, neglected to pay £461.84 to a worker
- Luigi’s Little Italy Ltd, Yorkshire, neglected to pay £281.04 to 5 workers
- CPS SW Ltd, Exmouth, neglected to pay £261.29 to a worker
- Mr Gary Calder, Mr Richard Calder and Mr Neil Calder of Avenue Agricultural, Northamptonshire, neglected to pay £256.55 to a worker
- Dakal Ltd, Northampton, neglected to pay £252.00 to 2 workers
- Michael at Zoom Limited, Havant, neglected to pay £242.28 to 3 workers
- HSS Hire Service Group Ltd, Manchester, neglected to pay £149.00 to 15 workers
- Sun Shack Ltd, Hamilton, neglected to pay £134.35 to 8 workers
The 25 cases named today (8 June 2014) were thoroughly investigated by HM Revenue & Customs after workers made complaints to the free and confidential Pay and Work Rights helpline. Employers who are unsure of National Minimum Wage rules can also get free advice and information from the Pay and Work Rights Helpline on 0800 917 2368 or by visiting www.gov.uk.
Notes to editors:
1.Employers have a duty to be aware of the different legal rates for the National Minimum Wage.
The government has announced the following rates will come into effect on 1 October 2014:
- a 19p (3%) increase in the adult rate (from £6.31 to £6.50 per hour)
- a 10p (2%) increase in the rate for 18-20 year olds (from £5.03 to £5.13per hour)
- a 7p (2%) increase in the rate for 16-17 year olds (from £3.72 to £3.79 per hour)
- a 5p (2%) increase in the rate for apprentices (from £2.68 to £2.73 per hour)
2.The government is committed to increasing compliance with minimum wage legislation and effective enforcement of it. Everyone who is entitled to the minimum wage should receive it. The BIS scheme to name employers who break minimum wage law came into effect on 1 January 2011. The scheme is one of a range of tools at the government’s disposal to tackle this issue. Employers who pay workers less than the minimum wage not only have to pay back arrears of wages at current minimum wage rates but also face financial penalties of up to £20,000. In the most serious cases employers can be prosecuted.
3.From 1 October 2013 the government revised the naming scheme to make it simpler to name and shame employers who break the law. Under this scheme the government will name all employers that have been issued with a Notice of Underpayment (NoU) unless employers meet one of the exceptional criteria or have arrears of £100 or less. All 25 cases named today failed to pay the national minimum wage and have arrears of over £100.
4.Employers have 28 days to appeal against the NoU (this notice sets out the owed wages to be paid by the employer together with the penalty for not complying with minimum wage law). If the employer does not appeal or unsuccessfully appeals against this NoU, BIS will consider them for naming. The employer then has 14 days to make representations to BIS outlining whether they meet any of the very exceptional criteria: naming by BIS carries a risk of personal harm to an individual or their family or there are national security risks associated with naming, or there other factors which suggests that it would not be in the public interest to name the employer or company. Of these, the public interest criteria will only apply in very exceptional circumstances. BIS will normally expect to inform the employer of the outcome of any representations made within 14 days of receipt of any representation made by the employer. If BIS does not receive any representations or the representations received are unsuccessful, the employer will be named via a BIS press release under this scheme.
5.Further information about the revised BIS NMW naming scheme can be found at Enforcing national minimum wage law.