Speeches

Ivan Lewis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2014-06-16.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people are employed in the HM Revenue and Customs national minimum wage enforcement team based in Belfast; and how many complaints have been reeived by the Pay and Work Rights helpline relating to Northern Ireland-based employers in each year since 2010.

Mr David Gauke

The Government takes the enforcement of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) very seriously. HMRC review every complaint that is referred to them by the Pay and Work Rights Helpline. In addition, by collating and analysing data received from various sources, HMRC ensure targeted enforcement through robust risk assessment processes to identify employers across the United Kingdom who are more likely to be not paying NMW.

HMRC deploys resources to risk, so work relating to a specific geographical area may not always be undertaken by the NMW team based in that area. In addition, the NMW Dynamic Response Team (DRT) provides a multi-agency response to emerging risks, high profile casework and compliance initiatives across the UK.

Responsibility for the administration of the Pay and Work Rights Helpline (PWRH) sits with the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS). At present, the PWRH is not able to provide aggregated information on calls relating to specific locations.