The Government has been heavily criticised for the naming and shaming delay of those companies that fail to pay the national minimum wage, as it has now been almost 10 months since the last list was released.
Naming And Shaming Delay
The naming and shaming delay has been considerable, as it has now been almost 10 months since the last list was released on the 6th July 2018. That list exposed the fact that 22,400 workers had been underpaid £1.44 million by 239 companies and organisations, with £1.97 million in fines being imposed. The list was headed up by Sportswift Limited, trading as Card Factory, in which 10,256 workers were underpaid a total £430,097.87. Prior to that list being published, there was only a 4 months gap, with the previous list being published on the 9th March 2018. And the previous list prior to that was published on the 8th December 2017 (again, just a 4 month gap). Hence, normally, a named and shamed list is published every 4 months. Moreover, the Low Pay Commission recently reported that during 2017/18 (i.e. the year to April 2018), a record number of workers (439,000) were paid below the national minimum wage, of which 369,000 were workers not being paid the correct level of the national living wage (an increase of 30,000 on the year before). Accordingly, the need to name and shame has not gone away.
Why The Naming And Shaming Delay?
According to the Independent, the naming and shaming delay is most likely due to the Brexit workload of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), which publishes the named and shamed lists. The paper reports that: "BEIS has one of the largest Brexit workloads in Whitehall, with the highest number of dedicated work streams in any government department, according to a recent report by the Institute for Government (IfG)."
Caroline Lucas, MP for the Green Party stated that it was "deeply concerning [that the issue has] fallen off the government’s to-do list. The ‘naming and shaming’ scheme was designed to send a loud and clear message to employers who exploit workers with illegal poverty wages that cheating does not pay. If ministers are remotely concerned about addressing some of the very real reasons people voted for Brexit, tackling criminally low pay should be a top priority – not something they drop as departments drown in last-minute preparations." Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary for the Labour Party added that the Government appeared to have "given up on governing. While the Tories are consumed by the Brexit mess they have created, other serious issues like this are falling by the wayside." And the leader of the Liberal Democrats added: "This is a disgrace and demonstrates the way that Brexit is sucking all the energy out of government. Naming and shaming these organisations is an absolutely crucial weapon in the war against exploitative low pay. But this government clearly doesn’t care."
Government Response
Commenting on the naming and shaming delay, a representative from the BEIS stated that: “The enforcement of the National Minimum Wage is a top priority for the department. Action has been taken against more than 1,000 businesses for underpaying workers and the budget for National Minimum Wage enforcement was increased from £13.2m to £26.3m between 2015 and 2018."
