It’s been a bumper year for back pay

Workers shared out over £24million in back pay last year according to new government figures.

As part of the government campaign to raise awareness around understanding your pay slip and ensuring employees who are not salaried get the correct pay they’ve released new information about the enforcement taken against firms that don’t pay minimum wage.

Anyone working part-time or on a casual contract is entitled to the minimum wage, which was increased last month to £8.21 per hour for anyone aged over 25. That increase was accompanied by new legislation entitling everyone to a payslip so they can check they’ve received the right amount.

New figures for 2018 show it was a record year for enforcing the minimum wage, called the national living wage for workers over 25. 220,000 workers shared £24.4million after employers were caught out paying less than the minimum. That’s up from £15.6million the previous year. Bosses that didn’t pay the minimum wage were fined a total of £17million last year.

Travelling time counts as work

Accompanying survey data showed around half of all workers were unsure who is entitled to be paid the national minimum wage. And around two in five wrongly thought it didn’t apply to time spent travelling between assignments in a job that might involve attending different appointments in different places. In fact that travelling time counts as work as should be paid accordingly. However minimum wage rates don’t apply to time spent travelling to and from work.

Kelly Tolhurst, Business Minister said: “We are leaving no stone unturned and are cracking down on employers who fail to pay the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage. All workers deserve a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work and, as our latest figures demonstrate, we are recouping more money than ever before for people that have not been paid correctly.

“Through our modern Industrial Strategy, we are determined to end low pay and boost the earning power of people right across the country.

“Our minimum wage rates are amongst the highest in the world and today’s figures are a reminder to all employers to check they are paying their workers correctly.”

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• employment law part time employment employee rights