[UK] More context called for in HMRC’s minimum wage ‘name and shame’ list

A call for “more context” has been made following the appearance of Harratts, Marshall Motor Group and Vertu Motors in the HMRC’s ‘name and shame’ list of businesses who failed to pay the National Minimum Wage, AM-online reports.

The car retail groups were among 191 businesses - including major household names - that appeared in a list published by HMRC in early August. However, Marshall CEO Daksh Gupta and a statement from Vertu revealed that their appearance in the list came as a result of historic technical issues which had been identified and resolved.

The situation prompted Mr Gupta to ask for the Government’s process for reporting instances of non-payment of the National Minimum Wage to be revised.

He said, “I am wholly supportive of the publication of the list and Government’s ‘name and shame’ approach for those businesses that are flagrantly breaching minimum wage rules.

“It’s important that we’re all aware of those companies and they are brought to account but in other cases, there has to be more context.

“In our case, the listing relates back to 2017 and a technical issue related to a scheme we’d devised to help boost the pay of new starters.”

Mr Gupta said Marshall had launched a scheme in 2017 to deliver an advance payment to new starters in order to relieve financial pressure as they familiarised themselves with the commission-based car retail environment.

In 16 instances workers left the business after only a short period and efforts to retrieve the money handed over by Marshall resulted in a wage calculation that fell short of the National Minimum Wage for part of their period of employment.

Mr Gupta told AM that the funds had been handed back and changes had subsequently been made to Marshall’s salary support scheme to make sure the issue would not arise again.

He said, “We made the change as soon as we identified the problem and plan to continue to support new starters in every way we can.”

Mr Gupta also drew attention to the group’s payment of 90 per cent of furloughed employees wages in 2020 and a recent backdated pay review and “loyalty bonus” for staff as further evidence of its desire to exceed industry pay expectations.

According to the HMRC’s list, Marshall had initially failed to pay £8,816.31 to 16 workers. The HMRC said that Harratts failed to pay £7,863.82 to 26 workers, while Vertu failed to pay £5901.44 to 63 workers.

A spokesperson for Vertu Motors told AM, “This refers to an historic issue that was resolved.

“The accidental underpayment, an average of £13 per person involved per year, was caused by a complex salary sacrifice scheme and the underpayments were corrected in 2018.”

AM has yet to receive a response from Yorkshire car retail business Harratts.

A call for “more context” has been made following the appearance of Harratts, Marshall Motor Group and Vertu Motors in the HMRC’s ‘name and shame’ list of businesses who failed to pay the National Minimum Wage, AM-online reports.

The car retail groups were among 191 businesses - including major household names - that appeared in a list published by HMRC in early August. However, Marshall CEO Daksh Gupta and a statement from Vertu revealed that their appearance in the list came as a result of historic technical issues which had been identified and resolved.

The situation prompted Mr Gupta to ask for the Government’s process for reporting instances of non-payment of the National Minimum Wage to be revised.

He said, “I am wholly supportive of the publication of the list and Government’s ‘name and shame’ approach for those businesses that are flagrantly breaching minimum wage rules.

“It’s important that we’re all aware of those companies and they are brought to account but in other cases, there has to be more context.

“In our case, the listing relates back to 2017 and a technical issue related to a scheme we’d devised to help boost the pay of new starters.”

Mr Gupta said Marshall had launched a scheme in 2017 to deliver an advance payment to new starters in order to relieve financial pressure as they familiarised themselves with the commission-based car retail environment.

In 16 instances workers left the business after only a short period and efforts to retrieve the money handed over by Marshall resulted in a wage calculation that fell short of the National Minimum Wage for part of their period of employment.

Mr Gupta told AM that the funds had been handed back and changes had subsequently been made to Marshall’s salary support scheme to make sure the issue would not arise again.

He said, “We made the change as soon as we identified the problem and plan to continue to support new starters in every way we can.”

Mr Gupta also drew attention to the group’s payment of 90 per cent of furloughed employees wages in 2020 and a recent backdated pay review and “loyalty bonus” for staff as further evidence of its desire to exceed industry pay expectations.

According to the HMRC’s list, Marshall had initially failed to pay £8,816.31 to 16 workers. The HMRC said that Harratts failed to pay £7,863.82 to 26 workers, while Vertu failed to pay £5901.44 to 63 workers.

A spokesperson for Vertu Motors told AM, “This refers to an historic issue that was resolved.

“The accidental underpayment, an average of £13 per person involved per year, was caused by a complex salary sacrifice scheme and the underpayments were corrected in 2018.”

AM has yet to receive a response from Yorkshire car retail business Harratts.