£2m Back Pay Discovered For 13,000 Of The UK’s Lowest Paid Workers
The working class in the UK, the recent government efforts to root out the companies across the country who aren’t adhering to national regulation regarding National Minimum Wage and Living Wage have been a breath of fresh air, with details available for those who wish to check them out at government and news sites.
The newest development is the identification of at least 13,000 of the country’s lowest paid workers, who will receive a total of £2m in back pay, as part of the government’s efforts. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy have published a ‘list of shame’, which contains the list of the companies that they have identified as those underpaying workers, currently numbered at 233.
Since the program’s inception back in 2013, the government has identified £6m in back pay for 40,000 workers across the country, with 1,200 employers, which range from boiler companies, to hair salons, among others, fined for a total of £4m.
Business Minister Margot James states that it is against UK law to pay workers less than the set legal minimum wage rates, short-changing workers as well as undercutting honest employers.
She says that this latest naming round identifies a record £2m of back pay for the UK’s workers, aimed at sending a clear message to the companies that underpay their employees and break the law; they government will come down on them.
Common errors made by employers in this new round of the ‘list of shame’ included failure to account for overtime hours worked, deducting money from pay packets, as well as wrongly paying workers apprentice rates.
According to Melissa Tatton, the Director at HM Revenue and Customs say that the HMRC is committed to ensuring that all workers get the money that they deserve, getting money back to the underpaid, as well as to continue cracking down on employers who ignore the law.
She says that those companies that don’t properly pay workers, whether they handle home development, hair care or boiler work, will face the consequences of their actions.
The current round of listing named 233 employers across the UK, with an additional 2,000 open cases the HMRC is currently investigation, with eligible employers ending up named and shamed following the conclusion of their cases. The list of employers is available for those who want to check them out at the UK government’s website, along with additional information regarding worker pay.
