Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many employers have been issued with a Notice of Underpayment since 1 October 2013; and of those how many have been identified under the Department's National Minimum Wage naming scheme.

The Government is committed to increasing compliance with minimum wage legislation and the effective enforcement of it. Everyone who is entitled to the minimum wage should receive it.

Notices of Underpayment (NOU) have been issued in 571 cases where investigations were completed between 1 October 2013 and 31 July 2014. 118 of these were for investigations that commenced on or after 1 October 2013 and were therefore issued under the new scheme.

Of these, the Government has so far named 30 employers under the revised scheme. Between them they owed workers a total of over £50,000 in arrears and have been charged financial penalties totalling over £24,000. Some employers may also not be named if they make representations that fall under the very exceptional circumstances of the scheme or if they have arrears of £100 or less. However the vast majority of employers issued with a notice of underpayment will be named and shamed once the time limits for appeals have expired.