Stronger penalties for minimum wage abuse

Employers who pay their workers less than the National Minimum Wage (NMW) will face tougher penalties following changes to enforcement procedures announced last month.

The fine for employers that have not paid the NMW, and have failed to pay the arrears, has been increased from £10.70 per day to £224.70 per worker.

And there will be less time in which to pay the fine - the payment period for an employer issued with a penalty notice has been cut from 28 to seven days.

The government is also to increase the resources allocated for enforcement of the minimum wage by 50% from April 2007.