§ Mr. Patrick HallTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on enforcement of the national minimum wage. [96916]
§ Mr. Alan JohnsonThe national minimum wage is in force and it must be paid by all employers. There is no hiding place for employers who act unlawfully and fail to pay it. I particularly welcome the recent employment tribunal decision, where a worker in a Bognor Regis sports shop became the first person to benefit from the enforcement officers' powers; that is, to take an employer to an employment tribunal and force them to pay the underpaid worker all the money that is owed them.
This power is over and above the powers of officers to issue enforcement and penalty notices against employers. Ten enforcement notices were issued in September, and £67,000 of back pay obtained for workers.