Government closes minimum wage loophole

With effect from 8 July 2003 the Inland Revenue has the power to issue enforcement notices against employers who have not paid the National Minimum Wage even if the notice covers workers no longer working for the employer.

The government had been forced to introduce the National Minimum Wage (Enforcement Notices) Act 2003 in response to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) ruling earlier this year in the case of Inland Revenue v Bebb [2002] IRLR 783.

The EAT had said that, as the law then stood, the Inland Revenue had no power to force employers to pay backpay owed to former members of staff.

The Inland Revenue is now reviewing claims made over the past year involving workers claiming against their former employers that it couldn't follow up at the time.