Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what criteria HM Revenue and Customs use to determine whether a case where an employer is paying one or more employees less than the minimum wage is pursued by the civil route or the criminal route.

The Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) is responsible for National Minimum Wage (NMW) policy, including the policy on compliance and enforcement. HM Revenue and Customs enforces the NMW Act on behalf of BIS.

BIS have set out how the Government operates the civil and criminal enforcement of the NMW in a policy document headed ‘Policy on HM Revenue and Customs enforcement, prosecutions and naming employers who break national minimum wage law (March 2014)'. This document is available on-line at www.gov.uk/government/publications/enforcing-national-minimum-wage-law