Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-03-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate his Department has made of the claims relating to national minimum wage have fallen under section 2 of the Deduction from Wages (Limitation) Regulations 2014 since their entry into force.

Nick Boles

No estimate has been made of the number of National Minimum Wage claims falling under section 2 of the Deduction from Wages (Limitation) Regulations 2014 since they came into force.

The Regulations introduced a two year limit on claims for unlawful deductions made to an Employment Tribunal, including claims for the National Minimum Wage. Alternative options remain for workers who are concerned that they have been underpaid the National Minimum Wage over a longer time period. This includes making a complaint to HMRC, who can investigate and issue a Notice of Underpayment on the worker’s behalf, going back up to six years. Claims can also be brought to the county court for breach of contract, where arrears can be claimed going back six years (five years in Scotland).