Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what information his Department holds on the (a) underpayment of the national minimum wage by employers, (b) amount of arrears and fines paid by employers for underpayment of the national minimum wage and (c) number of successful prosecutions of employers for underpayment of the national minimum wage for the 2018-19 financial year.

The Government is clear that all employers are responsible for paying their staff correctly. Anyone entitled to the Minimum Wage should receive it. We have more than doubled the budget for minimum wage compliance and enforcement since 2015; it is now at a record high of £27.4 million.

Last year was a record year for NMW enforcement. Across the 2018/19 financial year HMRC identified a record £24.4 million in minimum wage arrears, for over 220,000 workers. HMRC completed almost 3,000 investigations; issuing £17 million in financial penalties to over 1,000 non-compliant employers.

Since 2007, 14 employers have been successfully prosecuted for underpaying the Minimum Wage. HMRC issued 7 Labour Market Enforcement Undertakings in the 2018/19 financial year.

This information will be covered in more detail in BEIS’ Minimum Wage Enforcement and Compliance report, which we will publish in due course.