Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 24 October (HL2341), how many penalty notices have been issued since April 2016 in respect of employers' failure to pay compensation ordered by employment tribunals; and how much has been recovered.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
Since April 2016, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has issued 60 penalty notices to employers for failure to comply with orders of employment tribunals to pay compensation to applicants.
As a result of the Employment Tribunal Penalty regime the department has secured £83,245.52 in previously unpaid awards for applicants.
Should the penalty notices not be paid, the department will take further enforcement action as necessary to pursue payment.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of their commitment that any assistance to Nissan would be provided in compliance with state aid and World Trade Organisation rules and kept within current spending limits, whether they will offer similar support to other businesses; and if so, what criteria they will apply in deciding what compensating reductions will be made to ensure that expenditure limits are not breached.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
I refer the noble Lord to the statement I made to the House on this matter on 31 October 2016, Official Report, Volume 776.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 24 October (HL 2341), how many penalty notices have been issued to employers for failure to comply with orders of employment tribunals to pay compensation to applicants since the power to do so was introduced in April 2016; and how many have been enforced.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
Since April 2016, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has issued 37 penalty notices to employers for failure to comply with orders of employment tribunals to pay compensation to applicants.
Should the penalty notices not be paid, the department will take further enforcement action as necessary and to the full extent of the law to pursue payment.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, of the 700 employers "named and shamed" by them since October 2013 for failing to pay the minimum wage, how many were prosecuted; of those, how many prosecutions were successful; and what steps they plan to take to increase the number of prosecutions.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The National Minimum Wage naming and shaming scheme represents the end point of civil sanctions against employers who fail to pay at least the appropriate rate of minimum wage to their workers. Where there is evidence that an offence has been committed the case will always be considered for criminal investigation which may in turn result in prosecutions. But criminal investigations are reserved for the most serious cases of non-compliance.
Our number one priority is getting workers the money they are owed and the civil route is more successful in achieving this. Criminal investigations by HM Revenue & Customs and prosecutions by the Crown Prosecution Service will not necessarily result in arrears of wages being paid back to the workers. This would require further civil prosecutions following the Courts’ ruling.
Under the civil route, employers are not only faced with reputational consequences, but also face a financial penalty for breaking the law.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the research commissioned by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in 2013 <i>Payment of Tribunal Awards</i> showing that one-third of employment tribunal awards remained unpaid and only 49 per cent of successful applicants received their full awarded compensation, what steps they are taking to ensure that employment tribunal awards are paid in full.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has introduced robust Employment Tribunal enforcement processes, which can ultimately lead to a referral to a debt collection agency. A new process implemented in April 2016 allows for a penalty to be issued. The penalty is calculated as 50% of the value of the tribunal award up to a maximum of £5,000.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they have labelled the national minimum wage of £7.20 an hour as "the national living wage" when it falls below the UK Living Wage and London Living Wage set by the Living Wage Foundation.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The National Living Wage will come into force on 1 April 2016. We estimate that a full-time National Minimum Wage worker will earn over £4,400 more by 2020 from the National Living Wage in cash terms.
This Government is committed to improving living standards, particularly for the low paid. Guided by a proportion of median earnings which leading experts recommend, the National Living Wage recognizes the balance needed of an affordable rate for businesses with achieving a significant increase in minimum pay.
The Low Pay Commission will continue to make recommendations on the appropriate rate for the National Living Wage going forward, to make sure that wages rise to reward workers while considering the impact on the economy.