More employers at risk of penalties after HMRC publishes new list of minimum wage offenders

Commenting on the latest list of companies named and shamed for breaching national minimum wage rules, Caroline Harwood, head of employment tax at accountancy and business advisory firm BDO said:

“The latest list of employers named and shamed for failing to comply with minimum wage legislation includes some household names you wouldn’t necessarily think would be falling foul of the rules.

“HMRC’s list doesn’t differentiate between those businesses who may have been deliberately underpaying their employees and those who have accidentally failed to comply.“Companies can trip up by failing to take account of the costs of staff uniforms, not paying for time spent on training courses or not including incentives such as pension or other salary sacrifice schemes within their payment calculations.

“The recent rise in the national minimum wage puts even more businesses in the compliance danger zone. Our recent survey found that 98% of employers said that the proportion of their staff earning within £2 per hour of the National Minimum Wage would rise post April 2025.

“These employers who have historically paid wages above the minimum levels now find themselves in a position where they have to pay particularly close attention to the rules to ensure they are compliant.

“Employers who trip up on technicalities still face the reputational hit of appearing on this list and the financial penalties which can reach up to 200% of the underpayment up to a maximum of £20,000 per worker, so great care is needed to ensure workers’ pay is correctly calculated.”

ENDS

 

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Frank Shepherd
Email: frank.x.shepherd@bdo.co.uk
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