National Minimum Wage

Chapter 4: Compliance and Operation of the National Minimum Wage
The Newspaper Society called for better guidance where shift systems were operated. The
British Hospitality Association (BHA), British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) and Business In
Sport and Leisure (BISL) thought that in general the NMW was not too complicated, but that
for reasons of confidentiality HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) gave out little information
about why cases were taken up and the nature of mistakes made. They thought more
information might help us to better understand whether
and where the rules were overly complex. In oral “The Business Link sections
evidence they and the Association of Licensed
on the NMW are not very user
Multiple Retailers (ALMR) raised concerns about how
friendly.”
difficult it was to find information on Business Link,
and also confirmed the value of previously available BHA, BBPA and BISL evidence
sector-specific official guidance material.
4.10 Some stakeholders did ask for what they saw as
simplification and a change in the NMW rules. GMB, “There are currently four rates
like a number of other unions, supported one NMW for the NMW and administering
rate for all workers, and also called for the hourly rate and managing this is becoming
to be displayed on all payslips. The Association of increasingly complex and
Labour Providers (ALP) called for the removal of the burdensome, especially for
accommodation offset and for the rules to allow
small salons…”
deductions for accommodation and transport that
were made voluntarily. The Newspaper Society said NHF evidence
employers felt they should be able to offset benefitsin-kind
against the minimum wage. Some
organisations thought the regulations, now with four hourly rates, had become too complex.
The National Hairdressers’ Federation (NHF) said it would like to see simplification of the
regulations to ensure greater clarity over the different rates and in what scenarios workers
should be moved from one rate to another.
4.11 We note later in the chapter that while trade union
organisations think that the NMW is simple to
understand and easy to enforce, the Trades Union
Congress (TUC) was concerned at employers trying to
create loopholes. It referred to evidence of abuse of
piece rates in the hotel cleaning industry, and asked
us to consider abandoning or restricting the use of Fair
Piece Rates. The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) called
for simple and consistent means of calculating
working hours, as well as simple and consistent
definitions of worker categories, and any steps to
simplify the required record keeping process. It also
said confirmation or modification of the regulations
relating to output work should enable an employer to
set hours for submission of picked items.
“We do not believe the
regulations as they stand
are overly burdensome on
business….Where businesses
may be unsure of their
obligations…the best solution
is well-publicised guidance,
rather than changes to the
regulations.”
HomeWorkers Worldwide
evidence
103