Equestrian businesses on HMRC List

The Department of Business and Trade (DBT) who are responsible for minimum wage policy (including compliance and enforcement) has publicly released a list of employers found not to be compliant with the National Minimum Wage, as provided to them by the HMRC, who are responsible for enforcing the NMW Act on behalf of the DBT.

The cases included within the list are historic, but for the first time, there are five equestrians on the list, and this is significant. However, it should be noted that these cases of non-compliance occurred between 04/05/2015 to 19/07/2019.

The DBT has been behind on the sharing of this list due to the Pandemic, but they are gathering pace, which is possibly linked to an approaching election.

The list can be viewed here.

The HMRC has made it no secret that they are focused on the equestrian industry as a sector of low pay and non-compliance. Therefore, the EEA would encourage employers to be aware that compliance with the National Minimum Wage is the only way forward.

Be safe and protect your business – the EEA is here to help, support and advise employers. Civil penalties can be up to 200% of the arrears payable to workers. Persistent non-compliance can result in criminal prosecution.

A Notice of Underpayment should not normally be issued by the HMRC where an employer has correctly repaid all the arrears that are owed to workers before the start of an investigation, including where they have self-corrected. Employers therefore need to be proactive in identifying payment errors and take note of any emails from the HMRC advising them to do so.

Further information on the Government NMW Enforcement policy can be found here.

We will be bringing more about upcoming rises in the NMW and NLW in the coming weeks. The EEA guide to the NMW can be found here.