Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many staff are employed by HM Revenue and Customs to enforce the national minimum wage; how many cases have been brought since 7 May 2014 in respect of alleged failure to pay the national minimum wage; and what is the total amount of fines (1) imposed, and (2) collected, since 7 May 2014 in respect of cases of failure to pay the national minimum wage.

The government is committed to increasing compliance with minimum wage legislation and effective enforcement of it. Everyone who is entitled to the minimum wage should receive it. Employers who pay workers less than the minimum wage not only have to pay back arrears of wages at current minimum wage rates but also face financial penalties of up to £20,000 per underpaid worker.

There are currently 232 staff working in National Minimum Wage for HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), up from 171 at the start of 2014/15. The government takes the enforcement of National Minimum Wage very seriously and has increased funding from £8m in 2013/14 to £13.2m in 2015/16.

Civil penalties were introduced on 6 April 2009 for employers who are found to have underpaid their workers. The following table provides a breakdown of penalties issued by year:

The vast majority of employers pay penalties upon being issued with a Notice of Underpayment. Where they do not, HMRC will seek to recover through the civil recovery route.

In the period 2009/10 –2014/15, HMRC issued penalties totalling nearly £4m, of which less than 2% is currently uncollected and is being actively pursued through civil recovery processes.

HMRC do not hold data in a format to be able to provide information on unpaid arrears for the time range specified. It is not possible to identify a specific timescale of when a penalty was issued in relation to the time debt management processes took place.