§ Mr. BattleTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many successful prosecutions for failure to pay the national minimum wage have there been in Leeds. [83479]
§ Alan JohnsonThe National Minimum Wage Act 1998 contains a number of provisions empowering enforcement officers to take civil action against non-paying employers and the Inland Revenue always uses these in the first instance.
Since the minimum wage was introduced in April 1999 the Inland Revenue has issued around 450 enforcement notices in the UK requiring employers to start paying the minimum wage and make good any arrears, and identified over £12 million in arrears. A minority of disputed cases have been considered by employment tribunals.
National minimum wage statistical data are not disaggregated to constituency level. Leeds falls into the Inland Revenue's Yorkshire/Humberside region and for the period referred to over £1.3 million in wages arrears was identified and 101 Enforcement Notices issued.
To date there have been no criminal prosecutions in relation to underpayment of the minimum wage in the UK.