PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Skilled Workers (8 July 2014)

In order to protect the rights of workers, this Department is taking a tougher approach on all employers that break minimum wage law. We have already made it simpler to name and shame employers that break the law in this area. The revised Naming and Shaming scheme came into effect on 1 October 2013. The new rules are part of Government efforts to toughen up enforcement of the National Minimum Wage and increase compliance.

The Government has already publicly named 30 employers. Between them they owe workers a total of over £50,000 in arrears and have been charged financial penalties totalling over £24,000. By naming and shaming employers it is hoped that bad publicity will be an additional deterrent to employers who would otherwise be tempted not to pay the National Minimum Wage.

The Government has also doubled the financial penalty percentage that employers pay for breaking minimum wage law from 50 per cent to 100 per cent of the unpaid wages owed to workers and quadrupled the maximum penalty from £5,000 to £20,000. The Government will now introduce primary legislation so that a maximum penalty of up to £20,000 can be applied on a per worker basis – significantly increasing the maximum penalty employers can face.

In addition, through the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill the Government is bringing forward measures to ban exclusivity clauses in zero-hours contracts and through secondary legislation to ban employment agencies using an ‘overseas only' approach to filling posts. Both measures will further enhance the opportunities for workers, especially in low-skilled professions.