Businesses named and shamed by government for not paying minimum wage

But if we buy more 'local' snd use local businesses, doesn't the money stay local?

Jennerdysphoria

How was this uncovered? Did the underpaid workers report it/ have to claim?

Tax records? HMRC will be able to tell from PAYE records who has been underpaid.

No doubt there are other routes to discovery.

Jennerdysphoria

How was this uncovered? Did the underpaid workers report it/ have to claim?

Years ago there was a government department specifically for identifying and fining companies who paid less than the legal minimum amount.

I worked with someone who transferred to another government dept. After his job was scrapped.

Mollygo - that was not normal in my school. TA training time was paid.

Chocolatelovinggran

Mollygo - that was not normal in my school. TA training time was paid.

As I said, TAs now claim for hours.

petra

We will never know how many employees have accepted a low wage in order to claim benefits.

Why would they do that? I think people are better off working, and can have savings etc that they can’t if they are claiming. The scandal is that wages are often so low that people can work a full week and still need benefits to pay high rents and survive, so are forced into a position where their income is scrutinised and chances limited. The sooner there are rent caps and more social housing the better.

It’s great that rogue employers are being called to account though - every little helps.

Yes, and poorer people do actually have to spend their money Doodledog - so good for them to be paid correctly (!) and The economy.

Why would they do that? I think people are better off working, and can have savings etc that they can’t if they are claiming.

Workers don't choose to be paid like this. Employers do it to reduce their pay bill.

I can't see anyone being able to have 'savings' even if paid the minimum wage. The cost of living is too high.

HMRC can conduct checks at any time or respond to employee reports of being paid less than NMW.

If you look at the speadsheet in the link in the opening post, you can see that some of the cases go back to 2013. HMRC can go back six years if they discover non-compliance.

Many of the employers on the list were underpaying for at least that amount of time. The biggest case, Euro Garages (owned by the Sunday Times Rich List's Issa brothers) was from 2015 to 2021.

This from 2023 in The Guardian:

WH Smith, Marks & Spencer and Argos among more than 200 firms that failed to pay workers legal minimum wage

www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jun/21/uks-best-known-retailers-top-list-of-firms-fined-7m-over-pay-breaches

It isn’t always about not paying the actual NMW but misinterpretation of the rules about what constitutes pay and expenses.

For example, WH Smith had asked workers to wear their own trousers, skirts or shoes in a specific colour, along with uniform it provided. WH Smith has paid them back an average £40 for money spent on the clothing items.

Marks & Spencer was found to have incorrectly paid workers, owing 5,363 employees just over £100 each, or £578,000 in total. The retailer said it had been named because of an “unintentional technical issue from over four years ago” related to weekly payments for some temporary workers. “This happened simply because temporary colleagues were not paid within the strict time periods specified in the national minimum wage regulations and was remedied as soon as we became aware of the issue,”

Small transgressions, £40, £100 pp, but which add up to large savings for these companies if not caught. One might think business of this size would employ staff who could understand the rules so I question how accidental these infringements are.

For example, Tesco have a pay structure which effectively allows them to pay the increased NMW a month late. It saved the company £17 million in 2024. Technically compliant but morally dubious:

www.theguardian.com/business/2024/mar/07/tesco-pay-rise-delay-minimum-wage

I live in Hale too, interested to see if they survive the Indian in Bowdon didn't when they got fine. Crazy to risk these big fines for a couple of pound an hour.

I was on tax credits during covid, worked in a small family run local shop throughout covid, the owners wife was pregnant and they asked to to do extra shifts BUT wouldn't be able to afford the min wage, could I work for 2 an hr less I called HMRC and was told in no uncertain terms if I quit the job I would lose my benefit, so keep working and they would sort it out eventually. Cue to now, (I caught covid and got sacked for being off sick when we were all told to stay home if ill) and now HMRC are claiming everything back from me that I claimed , no mention of any penalty for the dodgy employer, who also never gave me a payslip, said it was all done online, he took tax etc from me but HMRC have no records of me working there other than my say so!

Nationwide seem to be cutting down on staff yet pay their ‘head’ £7 million!!!

MaizieD

^Why would they do that? I think people are better off working, and can have savings etc that they can’t if they are claiming.^

Workers don't choose to be paid like this. Employers do it to reduce their pay bill.

I can't see anyone being able to have 'savings' even if paid the minimum wage. The cost of living is too high.

Thank you.
I thought it was obvious. Obviously not 🤷‍♀️

This is a sad story of working for no payment.
I am friendly with a refugee who has been 'volunteering' at a well known museum. She already works officially and very hard at one part time job, and in the hope of being interviewed for another part time job to integrate into her week, she agreed to work as a volunteer at the museum in order to be eventually interviewed for a paid job. She worked as a volunteer for two months, sometimes doing 8 hour days of hard physical work. When she asked about the promised interview, she was told she was never actually registered as a volunteer! They kept putting her off for registration with one excuse or another (mainly that the right person was never there to do it), so of course she stopped going in to work, but asked them for written proof that she had volunteered with the museum, so she could add it to her CV. She heard nothing more from them, and when she eventually contacted the museum's volunteers' manager, she was told that the department where she had volunteered (the restaurant) was nothing to do with them. What a rip off. Poor girl. I've encouraged her to report it to the police, but she feels she'll be wasting her time. Any ideas, fellow Gransnetters?

Annoying as it is, I’m not sure any crime has been committed here that would warrant police involvement.

Volunteer management in charities can be a bit hit and miss although I would expect a “well-known” museum to have policies in place that are adhered to regarding formal recruitment, induction, trial period, health and safety awareness training. I’m wondering if they even knew her personal details, next of kin and so on. Did they? Volunteers need to be covered by workplace insurance.

That said, catering at large museums is usually provided by external companies. She needs to determine who that is and write/speak to the restaurant manager to determine who she was volunteering for. Someone must have offered her the job in the first place and offered her what was effectively an unpaid trial. Does she have any paper, email or phone records of that? Was she paid out of pocket expenses for say travel to and from work? Did she have to register in and out so that someone actually knew she was on the premises. Was she given a uniform? Anything at all that proves she worked there?

Thanks for your interest, PaynesGrey, and for your very useful comments. I'll investigate and hope we can get something moving on this. Very grateful.

Good for the publications willing to do this!