Hairdressing employers named and shamed for underpaying staff

The National Hairdressers’ Federation has described itself as “disappointed” by the 60 employers in the hair and beauty industry recently named and shamed by the government for underpaying staff. Commented NHF chief executive, Hilary Hall: “We are disappointed that around 60 employers from the hair and beauty sector were ‘named and shamed’ in the government’s most recent list of 233 employers who have been found to underpay staff. The NHF does not condone under-payment of the National Minimum Wage which has been a legal requirement for some years now.  Indeed, we have actively worked with HMRC on a campaign to help hairdressing, barbering and beauty employers identify the most common reasons for inadvertently under-paying their staff and to put things right. “Many people assume that there is one National Minimum Wage, but in fact there are four tiers depending on the age of the employee, with the National Living Wage creating a fifth tier for those aged 25 or over. In addition, the rate for apprentices varies depending not only on age, but how far through their apprenticeship training programme they are. As they are doing the same job, we have long been calling for apprentices to be paid at the same rate, regardless of age, to reduce the confusion over apprenticeship rates of pay. “Further, over the past 16 months there has been the introduction of the new National Living Wage in April 2016, then an increase to the National Minimum Wage in October 2016, which was followed by yet another round of increases to both rates in April this year.”