Low Pay Commission: Compliance and enforcement report
The Low Pay Commission (LPC) has released its report on compliance and enforcement of the National Minimum Wage. This year’s report looks at persistence of underpayment year to year.
To assess the effectiveness of enforcement, the LPC believes that more can be done to collect and use the data from HMRC’s own caseload, including basic demographic data about the workers for whom they identify arrears or their employment arrangements.
The report suggests that, in the long term, factors associated with vulnerability should be identified and addresses, including making sure workers are well-informed particularly in high-risk occupations, and streamlining the reporting system for workers to make it more approachable and more comprehensive.
Post-2024, work should go beyond enforcement and consider factors associated with non-compliance. These are the key recommendations:
- Take forward the LPC’s 2018 recommendations on one-sided flexibility.
- Ensure more regular naming rounds to create momentum and increase coverage.
- Expand the data HMRC collects on its caseload, in particular: