8th February 2018
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has revealed the names of 260 employers who failed to pay a total of 16,000 employees the minimum wage. The most prolific offenders were businesses in the retail, hairdressing and hospitality industries and their failures included not paying staff for travelling between jobs, making them pay for uniforms out of their salaries and refusing overtime pay.
The Business Minister, Margot James, commented, “There is no excuse for not paying staff the wages they’re entitled to and the government will come down hard on businesses that break the rules…Today we are naming hundreds of employers who have been short changing their workers…we’ve levied millions in back pay and fines.”
The back pay amounted to £1.7 million and the named employers have collectively been fined £1.3 million.
Arguably the most important business rule is to have your ducks in a row when it comes to wages and payroll. You will be caught out if you’re not compliant with the law, and the most basic level of compliancy is ensuring that every single person on your payroll is receiving at least the National Minimum Wage.
Currently the National Minimum Wage sits at £7.50 per hour. Further information about rates can be found here.
If you outsource your payroll, make sure you ask your provider to supply you with a report that will highlight if anyone is earning less than minimum wage. If you use software to process your payroll, ensure this has a facility to monitor this. A good payroll software solution will automatically flag any issues relating to the National Minimum Wage.
Download our eBook, ‘How to Get the Best from a Payroll Services Provider’ here.
