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<p>HMRC enforce the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW) in
line with the law and policy set out by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial
Strategy (BEIS).</p><p> </p><p>Breaches of NMW legislation are normally a civil (non-criminal)
matter which attract penalties of up to 200% of the identified wage arrears and public
naming.</p><p> </p><p>Prosecutions can be lengthy and cause delays in recovering arrears
for workers and do not necessarily guarantee payment. HMRC therefore balance recovering
NMW arrears for workers as quickly as possible with the robust enforcement of NMW
when deciding whether to pursue prosecution. Prosecution is reserved for the most
serious NMW offences involving obstruction, falsifying of documents or wilful failure
to pay workers the minimum wage, and such cases are referred to the CPS who decide
whether to prosecute.</p><p> </p><p>In the last two years (2018/19 – 2019/20), HMRC
have completed nearly 6,400 NMW investigations, identifying over £45 million in arrears
for nearly 485,000 workers, issuing over £35.5 million in penalties, and resulting
in one conviction.</p>
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