Increase in minimum wage on 1st October 2003

As of 1st October 2003, the minimum wage has risen to £4.50 an hour and to £3.80 per hour for the youth rate. These figures were first published in March 2003. To coincide with the increased rate the DTI has published figures concerning what it calls ‘rogue’ employers. It is also starting a campaign to publicise the new rates.

The DTI’s figures show that over £3.5million in unpaid wages from employers flouting the minimum wage was uncovered last year. It brings the total to almost £13 million since the minimum wage was introduced in 1999.

The Inland Revenue carried out more than 6,000 investigations last year - an increase of more than 500 on the previous year. This followed the introduction of three new teams in Leicester, Wigan and Shipley.

The DTI has started a five-week publicity campaign to publicise the rise in the adult rate to £4.50 an hour and £3.80 for the youth rate. These new rises come into force on October 1st. For the first time, the campaign will include targeted advertising through recruitment websites.

2020 review and update

The National Minimum Wage has continued to rise since the above report and continues to be poorly enforced by the authorities. The national ‘name and shame’ scheme has resulted in some companies being named as not paying the right amount when, in fact, the reason was because staff were saving money as part of a Christmas savings club. There have been several high profile cases in this area - most recently, Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake in 2018 and 2020. The 2018 Court of Appeal case decided that employees, who sleep-in so that they can be on call to work if required were not entitled to the National Minimum Wage during the sleep-in period. That case was appealed to the Supreme Court which heard the case in February 2020. The Court of Appeal had held that, in that case, care workers were merely available for work during the period set out for sleeping rather than actually working. They were, therefore, only entitled to the National Minimum Wage when awake for the purposes of working. At the time of this review we are still waiting for the Supreme Court Judgement.