Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many notices of underpayment of national minimum wage were issued in respect of employers with (a) zero to nine, (b) 10 to 49, (c) 50 to 249 and (d) more than 250 employees in each year since 2009-10.

The Government takes the enforcement of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) very seriously and has increased the financial penalty percentage from 50% to 100% of the unpaid wages owed to workers, and the maximum penalty from £5,000 to £20,000. These new limits are now in force where arrears are identified in pay reference periods on or after 7 March 2014. The Government will also bring in primary legislation as soon as possible so that the maximum £20,000 penalty can apply to each underpaid worker.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRCV) do not keep data on numbers of employees in a format that would enable provision of the statistics requested.