Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have made regulations under section 12 of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998; and if so, what those regulations provide.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
No regulations have been made under section 12 of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998. We will continue to review how employers are complying with National Minimum Wage legislation to ensure workers are paid what they are legally owed.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to end non-compliance with the national minimum wage and other breaches of employers’ duty of care.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The Government is committed to increasing compliance with National Minimum Wage (NMW) legislation and the effective enforcement of it. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) respond to every complaint they receive and conducts risk-based enforcement in sectors or areas where there is perceived to be a higher risk of workers not being paid the legal minimum wage.
In 2015/16 HMRC identified £10.3m or arrears owed to over 58,000 workers, and this year we have increased the NMW enforcement budget to £20m, up from £13m in 2015/16. We have also made penalties tougher, so that non-compliant employers now face a penalty equivalent to 200% of the arrears they owe, up to a maximum penalty of £20,000 per worker.
Employers are named publically under the Government’s NMW naming scheme for non-payment. To date, 687 employers have been named and shamed, owing combined arrears of more than £3.5 million.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many homecare workers and residential care workers are paid less than the minimum wage.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
Official estimates of jobs paid below the NMW derive from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE). Table 1.7 (page 18) of the Low Pay Commission National Minimum Wage Spring 2016 Report (Cm 9207) shows the proportion of jobs held by those aged 21 and over paid below the minimum wage by sector using ASHE –
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-minimum-wage-low-pay-commission-report-2015
ASHE estimates are not a direct measure of non-compliance with the NMW legislation as it includes some jobs paid below the NMW for legitimate reasons (e.g. where employees receive free accommodation) and it may not account for all travel and sleeping time.
Over the period from 1 April 2013 to 31st March 2016, HMRC opened 482 investigations into the social care sector. NMW underpayment has been found in 129 cases closed so far and resulted in the payment of over £702,000 to 3,868 workers. Employers have been charged penalties totalling over £150,500 for failing to comply with the law.
We have increased the budget for HMRC, who enforce the minimum wage on behalf of the Department, to £20 million for 2016/17, up from £13 million last year. This will bolster HMRC’s resources and ensure that they continue to respond to every worker complaint.
Any worker who is concerned that they have not received what they are entitled to should call the Acas helpline on 0300 123 1100 for confidential advice. HMRC follow up every complaint.
We will also continue to undertake targeted enforcement in this sector to ensure workers are paid what they are legally owed.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many penalties have been issued to ticket sellers under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and how many of those penalties were issued to secondary ticket sellers.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The provisions of Part 3, Chapter 5 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA) concern the online secondary ticketing market. The duty in section 90 CRA to provide information about tickets applies to persons re-selling tickets and internet-based secondary ticketing facilities.
Trading Standards is the enforcement authority in Great Britain for the purposes of the secondary ticketing provisions in the CRA. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment is the relevant enforcement authority for Northern Ireland. Where an enforcement authority is satisfied on the balance of probabilities that a person has breached a duty or prohibition imposed by Chapter 5, the authority may impose a financial penalty on the person in respect of each breach.
HMG does not hold information on the number of penalties issued under the secondary ticketing provisions of the CRA.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that primary and secondary ticket companies that are based abroad comply with the Consumer Rights Act 2015 when selling tickets in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
When selling to UK customers, primary and secondary ticketing platforms, whether based in or outside the UK, are required to comply with the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA) and mandatory UK consumer law protections.
Her Majesty’s Government issued guidance to business when the new ticketing provisions, contained in the CRA, came into force.
Trading Standards Services are responsible for enforcing the secondary ticketing provisions of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and other relevant consumer protection legislation. Suspected or actual breaches of such legislation should first be reported via the Citizens Advice consumer helpline, following which Citizens Advice may refer cases to Trading Standards Services for appropriate action.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to address investigations by Which? and 5 Live that found that secondary ticket sites are carrying ticket listings that are in breach of the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
Trading Standards Services are responsible for enforcing the secondary ticketing provisions of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and other relevant consumer protection legislation. Suspected or actual breaches of such legislation should first be reported via the Citizens Advice consumer helpline, following which Citizens Advice may refer cases to Trading Standards Services for appropriate action.
Since the ticketing provisions contained in the Consumer Rights Act 2015 came into force on 27 May 2015, an independent Review has been established (as required by the Act) to consider consumer protection measures in relation to online ticket re-sales. The Review is looking at the available evidence and will report by 26 May 2016.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure that online secondary ticket companies are properly monitoring and countering potential ticket touting, in compliance with the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
Her Majesty’s Government issued guidance to business when the new ticketing provisions, contained in the Consumer Rights Act 2015, came into force.
Trading Standards Services are responsible for enforcing the secondary ticketing provisions of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and other relevant consumer protection legislation. Suspected or actual breaches of such legislation should first be reported via the Citizens Advice consumer helpline, following which Citizens Advice may refer cases to Trading Standards Services for appropriate action.
Since the ticketing provisions contained in the Consumer Rights Act 2015 came into force on 27 May 2015, an independent Review has been established (as required by the Act) to consider consumer protection measures in relation to online ticket re-sales. The Review is looking at the available evidence and will report by 26 May 2016.