Email
YOUR HR DIRECTOR
  • Home
  • About
  • What We Do
  • Fees
  • FAQ
  • News
  • Contact
  • Home
  • About
  • What We Do
  • Fees
  • FAQ
  • News
  • Contact

news and views
from your hr directo
r

HMRC Minimum Wage Audit - a client's experience

16/7/2021

0 Comments

 
I wanted to share the recent experience of a client, who was subject to a lengthy audit on the minimum wage. This apparently was a random check, not the result of a complaint. 

The client in question is a principled employer and has never intentionally paid under the minimum wage. However being in the hospitality industry they employ many young people. As a result of this, birthdays happen and sometimes, inadvertently, small payroll errors can occur when someone enters a new pay band due to age. These were always rectified as soon as they were discovered. 

This audit resulted in a great many requests for information from HMRC, for specific pay periods for specific individuals. Many of these went back to previous years. HMRC also wanted to speak personally to a number of employees. Once these questions were answered, HMRC came back repeatedly with more enquiries. 

My client had nothing whatsoever to hide, but despite this they did come under a fairly sustained interrogation. In terms of person hours, it was a very time-consuming and stressful exercise, with a definite real-terms financial impact. 

In the end, in frustration and with my help, the client asked HMRC a number of fairly pointed questions, and then (coincidentally or otherwise), the audit was concluded, with no penalties. 

So what’s the take-home from this? 

First, do monitor staff birthdays as they relate to minimum wage and make good any accidental errors straight away. 

If you are audited, do co-operate but if you feel they are not being entirely reasonable, do contact me and I’ll help draft a similar email to the one I recently did. 

Remember also that furloughed staff (on 80% of pay) can legitimately be paid under the minimum wage because it’s not pay for work. 
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    News and (we think) useful advice from Duncan Elliott,
    ​Founder. 

    Archives

    July 2021
    October 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    January 2019
    July 2017
    February 2017
    September 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016

    Categories

    All
    HR Consultancy

    RSS Feed