The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has publicly ‘named and shamed’ over 200 employers who have failed to comply with the National Minimum Wage (NMW) rules. Alongside the list of names, the DBT has also published guidance, which highlights some of the key risk factors which led to non-compliance – these include (non-exhaustive list):
- Deductions or payments that take pay below the NMW: for example, for food / meals, parking permits and/or travel costs, cost of or lost work equipment/PPE, stock or till shortage, training costs, Christmas savings schemes (when administered incorrectly), uniform costs or worker purchase of clothes to meet dress code, childcare costs, salary sacrifice schemes e.g. cycle to work, pension and employer benefit schemes;
- Unpaid working time: for example, additional work before and after a worker’s shift, rounding clock-in time to the nearest hour, unpaid travel time, issues with final pay where employment has come to an end, pay is delayed / underpaid due to cashflow / cessation in trading / or ad hoc payments, workers paid for ‘regular’ hours or day rate when they have worked for more time than usual, a salaried hours worker working in excess of their basic hours, failure to pay for time undertaking mandatory training, failure to pay for time worked during a sleep-in shift, abuse of trial shifts, overtime payments;
- Failure to pay the correct NMW rate to apprentices: for example, when an apprentice aged over 19 has completed the first year of their apprenticeship and is still paid the apprentice rate, incorrectly classifying a worker as an apprentice, failure to uprate a worker to full NMW rate after completion of their apprenticeship;
- Failure to pay the uprated minimum wage: for example, failure to increase a worker’s pay when they become eligible for a new NMW rate following a birthday, or to uplift to the new NMW rates on 1 April.
For further information, please contact:
Fiona McLellan, Partner, Hill Dickinson
fiona.mclellan@hilldickinson.com
