National Minimum Wage Penalties to be Increased Again

1 min

Posted on 03 Sep 2015

The Government has announced a package of measures aimed at ensuring workers receive the pay they are entitled to.

The measures include:

doubling the penalties for non-payment of the National Minimum Wage to 200% of the wages underpaid. The maximum penalty of £20,000 per underpaid worker will remain unchanged;

increasing the enforcement budget;

setting up a new team in HMRC to take forward criminal prosecutions where employers deliberately do not comply with National Minimum Wage laws; and

ensuring that anyone found guilty will be considered for disqualification from being a company director for up to 15 years.

These measures will also apply in respect of the new National Living Wage which will apply from April 2016 to workers aged 25 or above. The National Living Wage will be set at £7.20 per hour, 50 pence higher than the adult National Minimum Wage rate in force at that date (and 70 pence higher than the current adult rate).

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