Make sure you are paying the national minimum wage

Published 29th Mar 2017
Make sure you are paying the national minimum wage With the National Living Wage and the National Minimum Wage rising on 1 April 2017, the NHF is urging hair, beauty and barbering business owners to review whether they are paying staff at the correct rate. Employers who don’t pay at the right rates are breaking the law and face the consequences which include fines of up to £20,000 per underpaid worker, as well as back-payments and public ‘naming and shaming’ by the government. In February 2017, the government published the biggest ever ‘named and shamed’ list of 350 national minimum wage and national living wage offenders. 39 of the 350 businesses were from the hair and beauty sector, the highest number after hospitality and retail. Because so many employers in the hair and beauty industry get it wrong, HMRC are specifically targeting salons and barbershops. Amid calls from MPs for more prosecutions, the first-ever Director of Labour Market Enforcement was appointed by the government in January, sending a strong signal that enforcement isn’t going away. The 4.2% increase in the National Living Wage, along with rises in the National Minimum Wage hourly rates for those aged under 25 and apprentices looks like this:  
Year 25 and over 21 to 24 18 to 20 Under 18 Apprentice
2016 £7.20 £6.95 £5.55 £4.00 £3.40
April 2017 £7.50 £7.05 £5.60 £4.05 £3.50
 

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