What happens if a deduction has taken a workers wage below the national minimum?
HM Customs and Revenue have the duty of enforcing the national minimum wage legislation. They have the power to require that a worker who was underpaid be paid a sum necessary to make up their pay to the minimum level. A failure to comply with the requirement can lead to a number of enforcement measures, including an enforcement notice, with the employer being sued on behalf of the employee if this is not complied with or a financial penalty being required to be paid for non-compliance (twice the hourly rate of the national minimum wage in force at the time of the penalty notice for each day that the failure to pay the national minimum wage has continued).
