Research and analysis

Supplementary data for the 2019 to 2020 National Minimum Wage Enforcement statistics report (web)

Published 24 February 2021

The tables and figures below correspond with references used in the 2019/20 National Minimum Wage Enforcement statistics summary report.

Table 1: minimum wage investigations summary, 2009/10 to 2019/20

Financial Year	HMRC enforcement budget	Opened cases	Closed cases	Closed cases with arrears	Strike rate	Arrears	SCCS Arrears	Total Arrears
2009/10		n/a	3,643	1,256	34%	£4,390,023	£0	£4,390,023
2010/11		n/a	2,901	1,140	39%	£3,818,396	£0	£3,818,396
2011/12		n/a	2,534	968	38%	£3,582,685	£0	£3,582,685
2012/13		n/a	1,696	736	43%	£3,974,008	£0	£3,974,008
2013/14		n/a	1,455	680	47%	£4,645,547	£0	£4,645,547
2014/15	£9,200,000	2,328	2,204	735	33%	£3,291,529	£0	£3,291,529
2015/16	£13,200,000	3,246	2,667	958	36%	£10,281,396	£0	£10,281,396
2016/17	£20,000,000	2,775	2,674	1,134	42%	£10,918,047	£0	£10,918,047
2017/18	£25,300,000	3,975	2,402	1,016	42%	£15,615,609	£0	£15,615,609
2018/19	£26,200,000	2,823	3,018	1,357	45%	£18,372,007	£6,075,912	£24,447,919
2019/20*	£26,300,000	3,576	3,376**	1,260	42%***	£20,581,253	£255,356	£20,836,609

Table 1 (continued)

Financial Year	Workers	Average number of workers per case	Average arrears per worker	Average arrears per case	Number of penalties Issued	Total value of Penalties	Average penalty amount
2009/10	19,245	5	£228	£1,205	381	£111,183	£292
2010/11	22,919	8	£167	£1,316	934	£520,568	£557
2011/12	17,371	7	£206	£1,414	906	£766,807	£846
2012/13	26,519	16	£150	£2,343	708	£776,517	£1,097
2013/14	22,610	16	£205	£3,193	652	£815,269	£1,250
2014/15	26,318	12	£125	£1,493	705	£934,660	£1,326
2015/16	58,080	22	£177	£3,855	815	£1,780,500	£2,185
2016/17	98,150	37	£111	£4,083	821	£3,892,381	£4,741
2017/18	201,785	84	£77	£6,501	810	£14,070,621	£17,371
2018/19	221,581	73	£110	£8,101	1,008	£17,134,737	£16,999
2019/20*	263,350	78	£79	£6,172	992	£18,453,289	£18,602

Source: BEIS/HMRC enforcement data

Notes

1. Arrears from the Social Care Compliance Scheme (SCCS) are included in this table

2. Between 2005/06 and 2009/10, there were 21,208 investigations, which found arrears of £19,094,334 for 101,259 workers. 753 penalties were issued.

3. Opened cases data is not currently available on a consistent basis for 2009/10 to 2013/14.

4. An additional 30 cases were originally closed in 2015/16 but the employer notified HMRC of additional arrears in 2016/17. The arrears in these cases are included in the arrears total for 2016/17.

5. There are an additional 11 cases originally closed prior to 2018/19 which notified further arrears in 2018/19. These cases are included in the arrears total for 2018/19.

*There are an additional 8 cases originally closed prior to 2019/20 which notified further arrears in 2019/20. These cases are included in the arrears total for 2019/20.

**3,376 closed investigations include 2,899 closed enforcement cases plus 80 New Small Business cases with arrears. It also includes 397 New Small Business cases where an educational approach was taken and no arrears were identified.

***The strike rate for 2019/20 comprises 1,180 closed investigations with arrears plus 80 New Small Business (NSB) cases where arrears were due.

Figure 1a. Minimum wage investigations: arrears and workers identified (2009/10 - 2019/20)

Source: BEIS/HMRC enforcement data

Notes

1. An additional 30 cases were originally closed in 2015/16 but the employer notified HMRC of additional arrears in 2016/17. The arrears in these cases are included in the arrears total for 2016/17.

2. There are an additional 11 cases originally closed prior to 2018/19 which notified further arrears in 2018/19. These cases are included in the arrears total for 2018/19.

*There are an additional 8 cases originally closed prior to 2019/20 which notified further arrears in 2019/20. These cases are included in the arrears total for 2019/20.

Figure 1b: Minimum wage investigations: arrears identified and penalties issued compared to HMRC enforcement budget (2014/15 to 2019/20)

Source: BEIS/HMRC enforcement data

Notes

1. An additional 30 cases were originally closed in 2015/16 but the employer notified HMRC of additional arrears in 2016/17. The arrears in these cases are included in the arrears total for 2016/17.

2. There are an additional 11 cases originally closed prior to 2018/19 which notified further arrears in 2018/19. These cases are included in the arrears total for 2018/19.

3. Arrears from the Social Care Compliance Scheme (SCCS) are included in this graph.

*There are an additional 8 cases originally closed prior to 2019/20 which notified further arrears in 2019/20. These cases are included in the arrears total for 2019/20.

Figure 1c: Minimum wage investigations: average arrears per case and per worker (2009/10 to 2019/20)

Source: BEIS/HMRC enforcement data

Notes

1. Arrears from the Social Care Compliance Scheme (SCCS) are included in this graph.

2. An additional 30 cases were originally closed in 2015/16 but the employer notified HMRC of additional arrears in 2016/17. The arrears in these cases are included in the arrears total for 2016/17.

3. There are an additional 11 cases originally closed prior to 2018/19 which notified further arrears in 2018/19. These cases are included in the arrears total for 2018/19

*There are an additional 8 cases originally closed prior to 2019/20 which notified further arrears in 2019/20. These cases are included in the arrears total for 2019/20.

Table 2: Minimum wage investigations: arrears and workers identified, by banded arrears per case (2017/18 - 2019/20)

Financial year: 2017 to 2018

Arrears per case	Closed cases with arrears	Arrears	Workers
£1 - £100	164	£7,796	291
£101 - £500	251	£71,661	1,229
£501 - £1000	132	£94,780	1,122
£1,001 - £5000	307	£713,467	3,931
£5,001 - £10,000	79	£555,978	2,699
£10,001 - £20,000	51	£742,650	4,298
£20,001 - £50,000	36	£1,104,611	7,771
£50,001 - £100,000	16	£1,157,420	6,208
£100,000+	10	£11,167,246	174,236
Total	1,046*	£15,615,609	201,785

Financial year: 2018 to 2019

Arrears per case	Closed cases with arrears	Arrears	Workers
£1 - £100	180	£7,911	383
£101 - £500	302	£83,947	1,423
£501 - £1000	166	£118,773	1,670
£1,001 - £5000	384	£893,120	8,365
£5,001 - £10,000	124	£921,590	6,693
£10,001 - £20,000	83	£1,172,741	8,174
£20,001 - £50,000	72	£2,214,044	16,042
£50,001 - £100,000	23	£1,649,779	15,186
£100,000+	34	£17,386,014	163,645
Total	1368**	£24,447,919	221,581

Financial year: 2019 to 2020

Arrears per case	Closed cases with arrears	Arrears	Workers
£1 - £100	232	£9,437	494
£101 - £500	278	£71,191	1,129
£501 - £1000	166	£116,841	1,175
£1,001 - £5000	297	£680,587	4,641
£5,001 - £10,000	103	£717,724	9,169
£10,001 - £20,000	77	£1,058,016	23,526
£20,001 - £50,000	52	£1,597,830	13,981
£50,001 - £100,000	30	£2,120,576	35,111
£100,000+	33	£14,464,407	174,124
Total	1,268***	£20,836,609	263,350

Source: BEIS/HMRC enforcement data.

Notes

*An additional 30 cases were originally closed prior to 2017/18 but the employer notified HMRC of additional arrears in 2017/18. The arrears in these cases are included in the arrears total for 2017/18.

**An additional 11 cases were originally closed prior to 2018/19 but the employer notified HMRC of additional arrears in 2018/19. The arrears in these cases are included in the arrears total for 2018/19.

***An additional 8 cases were originally closed prior to 2019/20 but the employer notified HMRC of additional arrears in 2019/20. The arrears in these cases are included in the arrears total for 2019/20.

Table 3: Minimum wage investigations: highest value of arrears and penalties (2009/10 - 2019/20)

Financial year	Highest value of arrears for single worker	Number of cases where individual worker due arrears greater than £20,000	Highest value of arrears in single case	Number of workers covered in that case	Highest value of penalty issued to single employer	Number of cases where single employer issued with a penalty greater than £500,000	Number of cases where single employer issued with a penalty greater than £1,000,000
2009/10	n/a	0	£724,445	250	£5,000	0	0
2010/11	n/a	0	£211,065	471	£5,000	0	0
2011/12	n/a	0	£400,761	651	£5,000	0	0
2012/13	n/a	0	£690,980	114	£5,000	0	0
2013/14	£11,243	0	£653,491	2,869	£7,050	0	0
2014/15	£20,857	1	£314,789	10,049	£19,535	0	0
2015/16	£14,532	0	£4,199,574	9,241	£538,704	1	0
2016/17	£29,715	2	£2,407,501	29,424	£1,465,661	1	1
2017/18	£53,625	4	£7,707,428	118,899	£8,505,931	2	1
2018/19	£29,845	3	£2,265,327	3,000	£2,265,327	7	5
2019/20	£44,323	11	£2,238,351	11,594	£1,470,098	7	3
Total		21				18	10

Source: BEIS/HMRC enforcement data.

Notes

The highest value for a single worker in 2018/19 was a SCCS case, which settled before the Mencap judgement.

There were 7 workers who received arrears in excess of £20,000. One of these workers received £113,000. This has been excluded from the figures for the highest, and number of cases with a worker with over £20,000.

Table 4: Minimum wage investigations by sector (2019/20)

Sector classification (SIC2007)	Sector name	Closed cases	Closed cases with arrears	Strike-rate	Arrears (£)	Workers	Number of all jobs paid below minimum wage	Proportion of jobs in that sector
A	Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing	35	15	43%	£101,112	281	4,700	2%
B	Mining and Quarrying	3	1	33%	-	-	0	0%
C	Manufacturing	175	71	41%	£1,845,327	13,635	18,900	1%
D	Electricity, Gas, Steam and Air Conditioning supply	6	2	33%	£1,039	3	200	0%
E	Water supply; Sewerage; Waste Management and Remediation activities	23	8	35%	£6,556	62	1,500	1%
F	Construction	72	44	61%	£134,588	178	6,400	1%
G	Wholesale and Retail Trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles	439	185	42%	£5,701,108	69,811	54,900	2%
H	Transportation and Storage	105	34	32%	£450,496	2,126	8,000	1%
I	Accommodation and Food Service Activities	769	312	41%	£3,197,483	62,212	35,300	10%
	55. Accomodation	183	92	50%	£888,233	8,659	6,600	7%
	56. Food and beverage service activities	586	220	38%	£2,309,250	53,553	28,700	11%
J	Information and Communication	38	13	34%	£410,209	8,516	5,600	1%
K	Financial and Insurance Activities	10	1	10%	-	-	3,500	0%
L	Real Estate Activities	26	10	38%	£28,922	59	3,500	1%
M	Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities	79	32	41%	£565,797	11,588	19,200	1%
N	Administrative and Support Service Activities	533	199	37%	£2,016,915	34,973	32,900	3%
	77. Rental and leasing activities	8	4	50%	£398,479	3,160	1,000	1%
	78. Employment activities	126	45	36%	£735,420	18,090	5,300	1%
	79. Travel agency, tour operator and other reservation service and related activities	7	3	43%	£8,595	10	800	3%
	80. Security and investgation activities	29	10	34%	£83,043	1,053	1,000	1%
	81. Services to buildings and landscape activities	286	105	37%	£531,516	7,626	17,600	5%
	82. Office administrative, office support and other business support activities	77	32	42%	£259,862	5,034	7,000	3%
O	Public Administration and Defence; Compulsory Security	11	6	55%	£80,254	430	7,500	0%
P	Education	71	46	65%	£410,162	485	67,800	2%
Q	Human Health and Social Work Activities	149	100	67%	£738,114	3,986	63,100	1%
	86. Human health activities	34	21	62%	£164,295	289	20,800	1%
	87. Residential care activities	46	36	78%	£265,576	2,065	22,700	3%
	88. Social work activities without accommodation	69	43	62%	£308,243	1,632	19,600	3%
R	Arts, Entertainment and Recreation	110	42	38%	£3,098,623	26,456	6,300	3%
S	Other Service Activities	320	138	43%	£731,896	2,342	7,600	2%
T	Activities of Households as Employers; Undifferentiated Goods and Services; Producing Activities of Households for own use	5	1	20%	-	-	-	-
U	Activities of Extraterritorial Organisations and Bodies	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total		2,979	1,260	42%	£19,558,521	237,288	347,000	1.5%

Source: BEIS/HMRC enforcement data.

Notes

1. The number of jobs paid at or below the minimum wage is calculated using the ONS’ 2020 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE). This covers underpayment across all minimum wage rates.

2. ASHE estimates of jobs paid below the minimum wage have been rounded to the nearest 100. Figures do not sum to total underpayment because of this rounding.

3. The figures shown exclude furloughed workers, and are therefore an underestimate of non-compliance. For more detail, please see “Measuring non-compliance with the minimum wage” in the accompanying report.

4. Caution is advised in making direct comparisons between ASHE data and HMRC enforcement statistics. ASHE data is based on a snapshot of pay and hours in April 2020 and assesses pay for a single pay reference period. HMRC enforcement statistics refer to arrears and workers identified across the entire reporting year and may refer to underpaid wages dating back 6 years.

5. This table uses Standard Industrial Classifications (SIC 2007) codes from ASHE 2020, and uses those paid within 5 pence of the relevant minimum wage rate.

6. ‘-’ indicates a number that has been suppressed to protect low employer self-identification, or because there is no data available for this entry.

*This table excludes the 8 cases that were closed prior to 2019/20, but where the employer notified HMRC of additional arrears in 2019/20. The arrears and workers from these cases have been included in Table 7.

Table 5: Minimum wage investigations by workplace region (2019/20)

Region	Number of all jobs paid below minimum wage	% of all jobs	Closed cases	% of all cases closed	Closed cases with arrears	Strike rate	Arrears	% of all arrears identified	Workers	% of all workers identified	Penalties Issued	Value of Penalties
East Midlands	26,000	1.7%	260	8.7%	110	42%	£920,686	4.7%	14,104	5.9%	86	£1,078,352
East of England	37,000	1.7%	160	5.4%	63	39%	£318,978	1.6%	4,087	1.7%	53	£468,414
London	31,000	0.9%	338	11.3%	132	39%	£3,298,935	16.9%	42,917	18.1%	111	£2,957,983
North East	18,000	2.2%	162	5.4%	77	48%	£488,737	2.5%	7,053	3.0%	67	£603,902
North West	39,000	1.6%	408	13.7%	167	41%	£990,443	5.1%	7,320	3.1%	125	£1,079,652
Northern Ireland	-	-	115	3.9%	56	49%	£111,142	0.6%	982	0.4%	35	£168,807
Scotland	26,000	1.2%	317	10.6%	133	42%	£1,059,811	5.4%	10,161	4.3%	112	£1,268,265
South East	47,000	1.3%	303	10.2%	136	45%	£5,336,820	27.3%	43,287	18.2%	100	£4,455,592
South West	36,000	1.9%	208	7.0%	92	44%	£1,135,793	5.8%	13,849	5.8%	70	£963,123
Wales	16,000	1.5%	134	4.5%	60	45%	£325,419	1.7%	4,227	1.8%	41	£379,442
West Midlands	28,000	1.5%	309	10.4%	116	38%	£4,164,947	21.3%	71,047	29.9%	91	£3,286,439
Yorkshire and the Humber	35,000	1.9%	260	8.7%	116	45%	£1,382,911	7.1%	18,034	7.6%	100	£1,738,243
Other	-	-	2	0.1%	0	0%	-	-	-	-	-	-
Unknown	-	-	3	0.1%	2	67%	£23,899	0.1%	220	0.1%	1	£5,075
Total	339,000	1.5%	2,979		1,260	42%	£19,558,521		237,288		992	£18,453,289

Source: BEIS / HMRC enforcement data and BEIS analysis of Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) 2020.

Notes

1. Figures from ASHE are rounded to the nearest thousand.

2. This covers underpayment across all minimum wage rates.

3. Estimates of the number (and percentage) of jobs paid below the minimum wage in Northern Ireland have not been included due to small sample sizes in ASHE.

4. The figures shown exclude furloughed workers, and are therefore an underestimate of non-compliance. For more detail, please see “Measuring non-compliance with the minimum wage” in the accompanying report.

5. Caution is advised in making direct comparisons between ASHE data and HMRC enforcement statistics. ASHE data is based on a snapshot of pay and hours in April 2020 and assesses pay for a single pay reference period.

6. Regional trends may be the result of differences in the concentration of employers across the UK or in the sector composition within a region - for example a region with a large number of employers in low-pay sectors will drive investigations in that region.

7. Furthermore, these figures combine complaint-led and targeted enforcement work and there may be a different pattern when these breakdowns are considered separately.

8. 3,376 closed investigations include 2,899 closed enforcement cases plus 80 New Small Business cases with arrears. It also includes 397 New Small Business cases where an educational approach was taken and no arrears were identified.

9. This table excludes the 8 cases that were closed prior to 2019/20, but where the employer notified HMRC of additional arrears in 2019/20. The arrears and workers from these cases have been included in Table 1

10. The strike rate for 2019/20 comprises 1,180 closed investigations with arrears plus 80 New Small Business (NSB) cases where arrears were due.

11. Geography information is based on employer address postcode (trading address). In some cases, this may be where the minimum wage underpayment occurred.

12. BEIS linked postcodes to the National Statistics Postcode Lookup file for May 2020 to identify Government Office Regions.

13. The ‘Other’ region includes the Channel Islands and Isle of Man.

Figure 5a: Minimum wage cases closed (2019 to 2020)

Notes

Geography information is based on employer address postcode (trading address). In some cases, this may be where the minimum wage underpayment occurred.

Figures in the millions are rounded to the nearest one hundred thousand (£X.Xm), and may therefore differ to the figures provided in Table 5 in the accompanying Excel data.

Contains National Statistics Data© Crown Copyright and Database Right 2018.

Source: BEIS/HMRC enforcement data

Figure 5b: Minimum wage cases closed with arrears identified (2019 to 2020)

Notes

Geography information is based on employer address postcode (trading address). In some cases, this may be where the minimum wage underpayment occurred.

Figures in the millions are rounded to the nearest one hundred thousand (£X.Xm), and may therefore differ to the figures provided in Table 5 in the accompanying Excel data.

Contains National Statistics Data© Crown Copyright and Database Right 2018.

Source: BEIS/HMRC enforcement data

Figure 5c: Total workers identified (2019 to 2020)

Notes

Geography information is based on employer address postcode (trading address). In some cases, this may be where the minimum wage underpayment occurred.

Figures in the millions are rounded to the nearest one hundred thousand (£X.Xm), and may therefore differ to the figures provided in Table 5 in the accompanying Excel data.

Contains National Statistics Data© Crown Copyright and Database Right 2018.

Source: BEIS/HMRC enforcement data.

Figure 5d: Total minimum wage arrears identified (2019 to 2020)

Notes

Geography information is based on employer address postcode (trading address). In some cases, this may be where the minimum wage underpayment occurred.

Figures in the millions are rounded to the nearest one hundred thousand (£X.Xm), and may therefore differ to the figures provided in Table 5 in the accompanying Excel data.

Contains National Statistics Data© Crown Copyright and Database Right 2018.

Source: BEIS/HMRC enforcement data.

Figure 5e: Minimum wage penalties issued (2019 to 2020)

Notes

Geography information is based on employer address postcode (trading address). In some cases, this may be where the minimum wage underpayment occurred.

Figures in the millions are rounded to the nearest one hundred thousand (£X.Xm), and may therefore differ to the figures provided in Table 5 in the accompanying Excel data.

Contains National Statistics Data© Crown Copyright and Database Right 2018.

Source: BEIS/HMRC enforcement data

Table 6: Minimum wage enforcement by gender (2009/10 - 2019/20)

Financial year	Male workers identified	Female workers identified
2009/10	9,811	9,434
2010/11	10,908	12,011
2011/12	8,892	8,479
2012/13	11,185	15,334
2013/14	10,461	12,149
2014/15	6,241	20,077
2015/16	25,770	32,310
2016/17	37,584	60,566
2017/18	79,258	122,527
2018/19	90,893	130,688
2019/20	114,484	148,866
Total	405,487	572,441

Source: BEIS/HMRC enforcement data.

Notes

It is not possible to attribute arrears to a particular worker, meaning that arrears figures cannot be split out by gender (therefore these figures can’t be provided).

Table 7a: Targeted Minimum Wage investigations (2014/15 - 2019/20)

Financial Year	Opened cases	Closed cases	Closed cases with arrears	Strike rate	Arrears	Average arrears per closed case	Workers	Penalties Issued	Value of Penalties
2014/15	106	151	60	40%	£579,385	£9,656	5,247	49	£127,367
2015/16	2,009	1,091	206	19%	£6,984,043	£33,903	43,486	133	£733,716
2016/17	1,259	1,473	494	34%	£5,181,343	£10,489	68,290	368	£2,534,618
2017/18	1,603	994	392	39%	£3,800,083	£9,694	64,453	332	£3,416,736
2018/19	1,506	1,665	609	37%	£9,936,606	£16,316	96,577	516	£8,890,792
2019/20	2,505	2,197	681	38%	£15,829,949	£23,245.15	212,499	512	£13,661,856

Source: BEIS/HMRC enforcement data

Notes

2,197 closed investigations include 1,720 closed enforcement cases plus 80 New Small Business cases with arrears. It also includes 397 New Small Business cases where an educational approach was taken and no arrears were identified. These New Small Business cases are excluded from the strike rate calculation

The strike rate for 2019/20 comprises 601 closed investigations with arrears plus 80 New Small Business (NSB) cases where arrears were due.

Table 7b. Source of targeted Minimum Wage investigations (2015/16 to 2019/20)

Financial Year	BEIS Priority	Risk-Model	Third Party Intelligence	Other
2015/16	Unknown	N/A	536	1,473
2016/17	593	344	350	565
2017/18	818	608	390	605
2018/19	649	441	382	683
2019/20	-	1,115	341	1,049

Source: BEIS/HMRC enforcement data

Notes

1. This table summarises targeted enforcement cases opened by HMRC in each financial year

2. Third Party Intelligence (TPI) are cases opened under a TPI PID

3. The Risk Model was not in operation prior to 2016-17. TE cases were identified using a more manual process of HMRC system analysis

4. BEIS Priority Sector cases can be sourced from either the Risk Model, TPI or Other

5. BEIS Priority Sectors introduced from 2016/17 and NMW Risk Model/Risk Strategy inform priority areas from 19/20

Table 8a. Complaint-led minimum wage investigations (2014/15 to 2019/20)

Financial Year	Opened cases	Closed cases	Closed cases with arrears	Strike rate
2014/15	2,222	2,053	675	33%
2015/16	1,237	1,576	752	48%
2016/17	1,516	1,201	640	53%
2017/18	2,372	1,408	624	44%
2018/19	1,317	1,353	748	55%
2019/20	1,071	1,179	579	49%

Table 8a (continued)

Financial Year	Arrears	Average arrears per closed case	Workers	Penalties Issued	Value of Penalties
2014/15	£2,712,144	£4,018	21,071	656	£807,293
2015/16	£3,297,353	£4,385	14,594	682	£1,046,751
2016/17	£5,736,704	£8,964	29,860	453	£1,357,763
2017/18	£11,815,526	£18,935	137,332	478	£10,653,885
2018/19	£14,511,313	£19,400	125,004	492	£8,243,945
2019/20	£5,006,660	£8,647	50,851	480	£4,791,433

Source: BEIS/HMRC enforcement data

Table 8b. Source of complaint-led Minimum Wage investigations (2015/16 to 2019/20)

Financial Year	Acas Helpline	Online Complaint Form	Other
2015/16	1,215	234	67
2016/17	1,863	437	273
2017/18	1,790	4,161	76
2018/19	1,034	3,808	82
2019/20	752	2,552	28

Source: BEIS/HMRC enforcement data

Notes

1. This table summarises contacts received by HMRC in each financial year

2. Some of the contacts received by HMRC will be eliminated at source (i.e. not classified as a Minimum Wage case), so will not progress to investigation

3. Multiple complaints against the same employer will only result in a single investigation.

Table 9: Targeted and complaint-led investigations (2014/15 to 2019/20)

	Targeted investigations		Complaint-led investigations
Financial Year	Arrears	Workers	Arrears	Workers
2014/15	£579,385	5,247	£2,712,144	21,071
2015/16	£6,984,043	43,486	£3,297,353	14,594
2016/17	£5,181,343	68,290	£5,736,704	29,860
2017/18	£3,800,083	64,453	£11,815,526	137,332
2018/19	£9,936,606	96,577	£14,511,313	125,004
2019/20	£15,829,949	212,499	£5,006,660	50,851

Source: BEIS/HMRC enforcement data

Figure 9a: Targeted and complaint-led enforcement: arrears identified (2014/15 to 2019/20)

Source: BEIS/HMRC enforcement data

Figure 9b. Targeted and complaint-led enforcement: workers identified (2014/15 to 2019/20)

Source: BEIS/HMRC enforcement data

Table 10: Minimum wage investigations by Notice of Underpayment or Self-Correction (2019/20)

Enforcement type		Closed cases with arrears	Arrears	Workers	Penalties
Total		1268*	£20,836,609	263,350	£18,453,289
(A) All arrears within a case assessed by HMRC (captured on NoU)		894	£3,209,533	20,051	£4,941,934
(B) All arrears within a case assessed by self-correction		220	£2,370,502	30,390	-
(C) Arrears partly assessed by HMRC and partly by self-correction		125	£15,001,218	211,898	£13,511,355
Of which:	(D) HMRC assessed arrears	-	£9,498,979	115,810	£13,511,355
	(E) Self-corrected arrears	-	£5,502,239	96,088	-
(F) Social Care Compliance Scheme (SCCS)		29	£255,356	1,011
Total HMRC assessed arrears (= A + D)			£12,708,512	135,861	£18,453,289
Total self-corrected arrears ( = B + E + F)			£8,128,097	127,489	-

Source: BEIS / HMRC enforcement data

Notes:

*An additional 8 cases were originally closed prior to 2019/20 but the employer notified HMRC of additional arrears in 2019/20. The arrears in these cases are included in the arrears total for 2019/20. Some NMW cases with arrears are solely HMRC assessed, some are solely self-assessed and some involve an element of both. These are reported in rows A, B and C respectively

Table 11a. Apprenticeship minimum wage cases (2015/16 to 2019/20)

Cases involving Apprentices	Closed cases	Closed cases with arrears	Strike rate	Arrears	Workers	Penalties Issued	Value of Penalties
2015/16	263	196	75%	558,618	632	188	309,666
2016/17	101	78	77%	198,988	228	60	116,563
2017/18	152	69	45%	277,389	3,452	55	234,915
2018/19	382	185	48%	423,989	1,025	169	602,563
2019/20	173	117	68%	315,920	542	110	481,128

Source: BEIS/HMRC enforcement data

Table 11b. Internship minimum wage cases (2015/16 to 2019/20)

Cases involving Interns	Closed cases	Closed cases with arrears	Strike rate	Arrears	Workers	Penalties Issued	Value of Penalties
2015/16	45	14	31%	£84,382	34	13	14,197
2016/17	16	4	25%	£7,677	4	4	5,829
2017/18	29	13	45%	£74,971	73	11	75,983
2018/19	29	13	45%	£79,617	50	12	135,555
2019/20	25	9	36%	£86,150	141	9	85,714

Source: BEIS/HMRC enforcement data

Notes

1. These cases only reflect those where the initial risk has been identified as either apprentices or interns.

2. It will not include investigations where HMRC subsequently found issues regarding apprentices or interns.

3. The identified arrears and workers may not wholly or partly relate to the apprenticeship or intern risk as HMRC cannot identify these without further case by case analysis

Table 12: Minimum wage prosecutions (2007-8 to 2019/20)

Name of employer	Trading Name	Area	Offence	Fine	Costs	Compensation	Date
T Aguda	Rascals Day Nursery Ltd	Walthamstow	31 (5) (a)	£2,500	£500	Nil	28/08/2007
Torbay Council		Torquay	31 (5) (b)	£1,000	£500	Nil	01/10/2007
R Singh	Pound Mania	Nottingham	31 (5) (b)	£500	£150	Nil	30/04/2008
David Jackson	Jackson’s Butchers	Sheffield	31 (1); 31 (2); 31 (3); 31 (4).	£700	£100	£9,065.85	02/07/2008
Pauline Smout	Jackson’s Butchers	Sheffield	31 (1); 31 (2); 31 (3); 31 (4)	£100	£100	£2,009.74	02/07/2008
Zaheer Ibrahim	The Jewel in the Crown	Nottingham	31 (5) (b)	£3,500	£100	Nil	21/07/2008
Ahmed Yassine	The Pheonix Hotel	Rotherham	31 (2); 31 (5) (b)	£2,250	£500	Nil	13/02/2009
B G Optical		Manchester	31(1); 31(2); 31(3); 31(4); 31(5)(a); 31(5)(b)	£3,696	£820	Nil	23/06/2010
Widescope Security		London	31(1); 31(5)(b)	£1,000	£1,000	Nil	26/02/2013
Amanda Barrett	Amanda’s Precious Bubbles Day Nursery Ltd	Birmingham	31(1); 31(2)			£3,247	11/05/2016
Richard Hunt	The Rock Hotel (Weymouth) Ltd	Weymouth	31(5)(a); 31(5)(b)	£500		Nil	13/05/2016
L.UK/Euro (Brighton) Ltd	3D Telecon	Oldham	31(1); 31(5)(a)	£5,000	£1,860	£9,300	04/08/2016
Dida Brothers Car Wash		Southampton	31(1); 31(2)	£14,000 or face 12 month jail term	£2,000	£4,403	08/12/2016
Brialyn Limited		Birmingham	31(5)(a); 31(5)(b)	£2,977	£633	Nil	17/08/2017
McElroy and Company Limited		Dungannon	31(1)	£250		£500	11/11/2019

Source: BEIS/HMRC enforcement data

Table 13: Minimum wage related calls received by Acas, 2015/16 to 2019/20

	2015/16	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20
Total enquiries	942,020	890,180	756,310	730,609	798,552
Of which…
Minimum wage enquiry	13,490	15,360	10,310	7,736	8,102
Enquiry about non-payment of minimum wage	4,500	4,660	4,430	2,939	2,127
Referred to HMRC	1,520	2,310	1,980	1,895	2,730

Source: Acas

Table 14: Acas calls received by key topic and caller breakdown, 2016/17 to 2019/20

	2016/17		2017/18		2018/19		2019/20
	Minimum wage enquiry	Enquiry about non-payment of minimum wage	Minimum wage enquiry	Enquiry about non-payment of minimum wage	Minimum wage enquiry	Enquiry about non-payment of minimum wage	Minimum wage enquiry	Enquiry about non-payment of minimum wage
Total	15,360	4,660	10,310	4,430	7,736	2,939	8,102	2,127
Gender
Female	9,470	2,630	6,480	2,590	4,628	1,655	4,897	1,214
Male	5,870	2,010	3,810	1,820	3,091	1,274	3,193	900
Unknown	10	10	20	10	10	5	12	13
Caller type
Employee	10,330	4,030	7,300	3,870	5,579	2,574	6,171	1,873
Employer	3,940	250	2,300	220	1,455	133	1,329	65
Agency Worker	240	110	170	110	161	99	155	70
Apprentice	600	160	360	120	391	82	314	80
Intern	20	10	20	10	12	3	9	-
Other	220	100	170	90	135	48	124	39

Source: Acas

Table 15a: Estimated number of jobs paid below the minimum wage, by rate (April 2020)

	A. Total no. of 16+ jobs	B. Coverage (low paid jobs)	C. Number of jobs paid below relevant minimum wage rate	D. Jobs paid below as a proportion of all 16+ jobs
Apprentice rate	126,000	28,000	5,000	4.0%
16-17 years	159,000	29,000	3,000	1.9%
18-20 years	655,000	103,000	18,000	2.7%
21-24 years (National Minimum Wage)	1,442,000	140,000	25,000	1.7%
25+ years (National Living Wage)	21,433,000	1,465,000	297,000	1.4%
Total	23,815,000	1,765,000	347,000	1.5%
Formula	-	-	-	= C/A

Source: BEIS analysis of 2020 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ONS)

Notes

1. Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand.

2. The figures shown exclude furloughed workers, and are therefore an underestimate of non-compliance. For more detail, please see “Measuring non-compliance with the minimum wage” in the accompanying report.

Table 15b: Estimated minimum wage underpayment over time (2016 to 2020)

	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Apprentice	7,000	6,000	8,000	9,000	5,000
16-17 years (Youth)	2,000	4,000	23,000	3,000	3,000
18-20 years (Development	20,000	19,000	35,000	19,000	18,000
21-24 years (NMW)	28,000	30,000	370,000	32,000	25,000
25 years + (NLW)	306,000	282,000	4,000	345,000	297,000
Total	361,000	341,000	441,000	408,000	347,000

Source: BEIS analysis of Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ONS) 2016 - 2020

Notes

1. Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand.

2. The figures shown exclude furloughed workers, and are therefore an underestimate of non-compliance. For more detail, please see “Measuring non-compliance with the minimum wage” in the accompanying report.

Table 16: Estimated number of jobs paid below the minimum wage by region (April 2020)

Region	Total number of jobs	Below minimum wage	At or above minimum wage	% of all jobs
South East	3,519,000	47,000	3,472,000	1.3%
North West and Merseyside	2,493,000	39,000	2,454,000	1.6%
Eastern	2,156,000	37,000	2,119,000	1.7%
Yorks & Humber	1,892,000	35,000	1,856,000	1.9%
South West	1,920,000	36,000	1,884,000	1.9%
London	3,480,000	31,000	3,449,000	0.9%
West Midlands	1,878,000	28,000	1,850,000	1.5%
East Midlands	1,581,000	26,000	1,555,000	1.7%
Scotland	2,094,000	26,000	2,068,000	1.2%
North East	831,000	18,000	812,000	2.2%
Wales	1,055,000	16,000	1,039,000	1.5%

Source: BEIS analysis of Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2020

Notes

1. Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand.

2. This covers underpayment across all minimum wage rates.

3. Estimates of the number (and percentage) of jobs paid below the minimum wage in Northern Ireland have not been included due to small sample sizes.

4. The figures shown exclude furloughed workers, and are therefore an underestimate of non-compliance. For more detail, please see “Measuring non-compliance with the minimum wage” in the accompanying report.

Figure 16: Estimates of jobs paid below the minimum wage by region (April 2020)

Source: BEIS analysis of Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2020

Notes

1. Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand.

2. This covers underpayment across all minimum wage rates.

3. The figures shown exclude furloughed workers, and are therefore an underestimate of non-compliance. For more detail, please see “Measuring non-compliance with the minimum wage” in the accompanying report.

Table 17: Estimated number of jobs paid below and covered by the minimum wage, by parliamentary constituency (2020)

Please refer to tab ‘Table 17’ in the spreadsheet Supplementary data for the 2019/20 National Minimum Wage Enforcement statistics report.

Table 18: Estimated number of jobs paid below the minimum wage by Low Pay Sector (April 2020)

Low Pay Sector	Total number of jobs	Below minimum wage	At or above minimum wage (lower bound)	% of workers paid below minimum wage
Hospitality	470,000	38,000	431,000	8.1%
Retail	1,583,000	38,000	1,546,000	2.4%
Cleaning and maintenance	676,000	38,000	637,000	5.6%
Childcare	281,000	23,000	259,000	8.2%
Transport	334,000	14,000	320,000	4.2%
Social care	875,000	27,000	848,000	3.1%
Office work	389,000	14,000	375,000	3.6%
Storage	471,000	12,000	459,000	2.5%
Non-food processing	246,000	6,000	240,000	2.4%
Hair and beauty	13,000	2,000	11,000	15.4%
Leisure	111,000	3,000	107,000	2.7%
Food processing	349,000	5,000	343,000	1.4%
Security and enforcement	128,000	2,000	126,000	1.6%
Agriculture	187,000	6,000	181,000	3.2%
Call centres	66,000	3,000	63,000	4.5%
Textiles	17,000	-	17,000	0.0%
Non low-paying sectors	17,624,000	119,000	17,505,000	0.7%

Source: BEIS analysis of Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2020

Notes

1. Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand.

2. This covers underpayment across all minimum wage rates.

3. The figures shown exclude furloughed workers, and are therefore an underestimate of non-compliance. For more detail, please see “Measuring non-compliance with the minimum wage” in the accompanying report.

4. Figures may not always tally to the total because of rounding.

Figure 18: Estimated jobs paid below the minimum wage by Low Pay Sector (April 2020)

Source: BEIS analysis of Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2020

Notes

1. Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand.

2. This covers underpayment across all minimum wage rates.

3. The figures shown exclude furloughed workers, and are therefore an underestimate of non-compliance. For more detail, please see “Measuring non-compliance with the minimum wage” in the accompanying report.

Table 19: Estimated National Living Wage underpayment in 10p pay band (April 2020)

Amount underpaid	Number of underpaid workers
£0.01	18,900
£0.02 to £0.03	36,500
£0.04 to £0.05	15,900
£0.06 to £0.07	3,500
£0.08 to £0.09	3,500
£0.10 to £0.20	18,100
£0.21 to £0.30	14,500
£0.31 to £0.40	12,100
£0.41 to £0.50	11,400
£0.51 to £0.60	27,400
£0.61 to £0.70	6,100
£0.71 to £0.80	9,400
£0.81 to £0.90	4,700
£0.91 to £1.00	4,400
£1.01 to £1.10	10,200
£1.11 to £1.20	7,800
£1.21 to £1.30	7,600
£1.31 to £1.40	6,400
£1.41 to £1.50	4,600
£1.51 to £1.60	5,500
£1.61 to £1.70	5,400
£1.71 to £1.80	5,200
£1.81 to £1.90	2,700
£1.91 to £2.00	3,700
£2.01 to £2.10	1,600
£2.11 to £2.20	2,700
£2.21 to £2.30	1,400
£2.31 to £2.40	2,100
£2.41 to £2.50	1,600
£2.51 to £2.60	1,500
£2.61 to £2.70	1,600
£2.71 to £2.80	1,200
£2.81 to £2.90	1,300
£2.91 to £3.00	500
£3.01+	35,800

Source: BEIS analysis of Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2020

Notes

1. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.

2. This table covers underpayment across all the National Living Wage (NLW) rate, which applies only to workers aged 25 years and over. The NLW was set at £8.72 in 2020.

3. The figures shown exclude furloughed workers, and are therefore an underestimate of non-compliance. For more detail, please see “Measuring non-compliance with the minimum wage” in the accompanying report.

Figure 19: Estimates of National Living Wage underpayment in 10p pay band (April 2020)

Source: BEIS analysis of Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2020

Notes

1. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.

2. This table covers underpayment across all the National Living Wage (NLW) rate, which applies only to workers aged 25 years and over. The NLW was set at £8.72 in 2020.

3. The figures shown exclude furloughed workers, and are therefore an underestimate of non-compliance. For more detail, please see “Measuring non-compliance with the minimum wage” in the accompanying report.