National Minimum Wage Naming Scheme Round 17, August 2021: educational bulletin
Source: data.gov.uk (2021-08-09)

Employers who fail to pay National Minimum or National Living Wage. Under a revised scheme announced on 11 February 2020, the naming of employers will resume. This process will call out businesses failing to pay their workers the National Minimum Wage and failing to comply with NW legislation rules. The scheme was paused in 2018 and came into force 6 April 2020.

National Minimum Wage Naming Scheme 
Round 17, August 2021: educational bulletin 
 
Introduction 
The National Minimum Wage Naming Scheme exists to increase awareness of 
National Minimum Wage Legislation and to act as a deterrent to the minority of 
employers who may be tempted to underpay their workers.  
In 2018 the Government undertook a review of the Naming Scheme in order to 
ascertain its effectiveness and ensure Naming was used in the most efficient way. 
The outcome of that review was published on 11th February 2020 and can be found 
here: Naming employers who fail to pay minimum wage to be resumed under 
revamped rules. The first naming round under those new rules was published on 31 
December 2020. 
As part of this review the Government has committed to be more transparent about 
the types of breaches we most commonly find. This educational bulletin focuses on 
apprentices.  We offer some tips to make sure you’re paying apprentices properly, as 
19% employers in this round had minimum wage breaches in connection with 
apprenticeships. We also include some more general statistics regarding breaches 
of National Minimum Wage legislation in this naming round.  
Full information on how to make sure you’re paying your workers the minimum wage 
can be found in our recently updated guidance.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Employers named in Round 17  

 
Reasons for minimum wage underpayment in Round 17 
Table 1 below shows the number of minimum wage breaches identified for 
employers named for minimum wage underpayment in Round 17.  
Breaches were most commonly associated with employers: 
• 47% deducted pay from workers’ wages (90),  
• 30%failed to pay workers for working time (58), and  
• 19% paid the incorrect apprenticeship rate (37).  
Table 1. Reasons for minimum wage underpayment in Round 17 
 
Type of 
underpayment 
Further information 
Number of 
employers 
named 
Deductions or 
payments that 
take pay below 
the minimum 
wage 
Deductions include: 
• Attachment of earnings administration 
fees 
• Food / meals 
• Parking permits travel costs 
• Cost of, or lost, work equipment and / or 
Personal Protective Equipment 
• Stock or till shortage 
• Training costs 
• Christmas savings schemes 
• Uniform 
• Childcare costs 
• Salary sacrifice schemes e.g. cycle to 
work, pension and employer benefit 
schemes 
• Worker purchase of clothes to meet 
dress code 
90 
Unpaid working 
time takes pay 
below the 
minimum wage 
Unpaid working time include: 
• Additional work before and after a 
worker’s shift 
• Rounding clock-in time to the nearest 
hour 
• Travel time 
• Issues with final pay where employment 
has come to an end 
• Pay is delayed / underpaid due to 
cashflow / cessation in trading / or ad 
hoc payments 
58 

Type of 
underpayment 
Further information 
Number of 
employers 
named 
• Paid for ‘regular’ hours or day rate, but a 
worker has worked for more time than 
this 
• A salaried hours worker has worked in 
excess of basic hours 
• Time for undertaking mandatory training 
• Time worked during a sleep-in shift 
• Trial shifts 
• Overtime 
Failure to pay the 
correct rate to 
apprentices  
This includes instances where a worker: 
• Is an apprentice aged over 19, has 
completed the first year of their 
apprenticeship and is still paid the 
apprentice rate 
• Is incorrectly classified as an apprentice 
and paid the apprentice rate 
• Has finished their apprenticeship but has 
not had their pay increased to reflect the 
higher minimum wage rate to which they 
are entitled 
37 
Failure to pay the 
uprated minimum 
wage 
This includes: 
• Failure to increase a worker’s pay when 
they become eligible for a new minimum 
wage rate following a birthday 
• Failure to uplift after the increase to the 
minimum wage rates on the 1st April 
15 
Failure to 
correctly apply the 
accommodation 
offset 
This includes: 
• Accommodation rate above offset 
therefore reducing pay 
• Living accommodation not provided 
11 
Incorrect work 
type  
Incorrect work type has impacted on treatment 
of elements of pay. For example, incorrectly 
treating a worker as a: 
• Salaried hours worker (broadly speaking, 
paid an annual salary, under a contract 
for a basic number of hours each year) 
• Time hours worker (broadly, paid by the 
hour) 
• Output worker (broadly, paid by the 
piece - the number of things they make 
or the tasks they complete) 
9 

Type of 
underpayment 
Further information 
Number of 
employers 
named 
• Unmeasured worker (paid in any other 
way) 
Worker status 
error 
This includes instances where the worker is 
incorrectly treated as self-employed, or an 
unpaid intern that should be classified as 
worker 
4 
Other 
Any other reason for arrears which does not fit 
another category such as an hourly rate paid 
below NMW 
44 
Notes: Some employers had underpayments for more than one reason. This table therefore 
totals to more than the 191 employers named in Round 17. 
 
The table shows that deductions or payments that take pay below the minimum 
wage is the most common reason for underpayment in this round.  This issue was 
covered in the Educational Bulletin accompanying Round 16 published on 31 
December 2020. The third most common reason in this round was failure to pay the 
correct rate to apprentices. 
Apprentices  
Common underpayment risks for apprentices 
Many apprentices are at risk of being underpaid by their employers.  The scenarios 
below reflect the most common risks of underpayment: 
• Employers continue to pay the apprentice rate to apprentices who are aged 
19 years or over after they have completed the first year of their 
apprenticeship.   
• Employers pay the apprentice rate to a worker who is not an apprentice.   
• Employers continue to pay the apprentice rate after the apprenticeship 
ends.  
• Employers fail to pay an apprentice for the time they have spent in training 
during normal working hours, both on- or off-the-job, as part of their 
apprenticeship.  
Other relevant underpayment risks 
All workers, including apprentices, may be also be at risk of being underpaid in the 
following situations:  

• not being paid for all time worked. Working time includes any additional time 
added on to an apprentice’s shift, for example time spent at team handover 
meetings between shifts, or passing through security checks on entry and exit; 
• having deductions made from pay for items connected with the job, such as 
uniforms and tools; 
• being over-charged for living accommodation provided by their employer; 
• having tips from customers used to meet minimum wage pay. 
The minimum wage apprentice rate 
The rate you must pay your employee generally depends on how old they are, with 
those aged 23 and over generally entitled to the National Living Wage. Information 
on the current minimum wage rates is available here.   
There is also a special minimum wage rate for apprentices. To qualify for the 
apprentice rate, a worker must be employed under a statutory apprenticeship 
agreement or a contract of apprenticeship. A worker will also qualify for the 
apprentice rate if they are treated as employed under a contract of apprenticeship.  
The minimum wage apprentice rate only applies if: 
• 
an apprentice is under the age of 19; or  
• 
an apprentice is aged 19 or over and is in the first year of their apprenticeship.  
If an apprentice is aged under 19 you can pay them the apprentice rate for the 
duration of their apprenticeship. Once they complete their apprenticeship, they must 
be paid the minimum wage rate for their age from the start of the pay reference 
period that begins on or after the date they complete their apprenticeship. 
You can only pay the apprentice rate to an apprentice aged 19 and over for the first 
year of their apprenticeship. You must pay them the relevant minimum wage rate for 
their age from the start of the pay reference period that begins on or after the date 
they complete the first year. 
If an apprentice turns 19 during the second or subsequent years of their 
apprenticeship, you must pay them the 18-20 year old minimum wage rate from the 
start of the pay reference period that begins on or after their 19th birthday. 
Further information on apprentices 
For more information on when someone is employed as an apprentice and should be 
paid the apprentice minimum wage, see the links below: 
For England: Apprenticeship Funding Rules  
For Scotland: Apprenticeships in Scotland  
For Wales: Apprenticeships in Wales 

For Northern Ireland: Apprenticeships 
For Government guidance on apprenticeships and the minimum wage: Calculating 
the Minimum Wage.  
Other minimum wage enforcement issues 
What counts as pay for minimum wage purposes? 
Minimum wage is calculated by determining the worker’s total remuneration in a pay 
reference period and checking that the average hourly rate of pay for that period is at 
least the relevant minimum wage rate.   
For further information on what counts as pay for minimum wage purposes and on 
the steps to ensure compliance, please consult Calculating the Minimum Wage. 
Record-keeping 
Employers’ records must be sufficient to show that they are paying each worker at 
least the minimum wage for every pay reference period worked. Employers must be 
clear on what elements count as pay for Minimum Wage purposes and they must 
ensure that any deductions made do not take the worker’s pay below the minimum 
wage rate. Please consult Calculating the Minimum Wage: record-keeping 
Further sources of information 
Workers and employers can contact the Acas Helpline on xx-xxxx-xxxx or visit their 
website for free, confidential and impartial advice. Additionally, workers who believe 
that they have been underpaid the Minimum Wage can submit a complaint to HMRC. 
HMRC will protect the anonymity of workers who make a complaint and will follow up 
on every worker complaint received, even those which are anonymous. This includes 
complaints made to the ACAS helpline, via the online complaint form and those 
received from other sources.  
The Government has also produced an online tool to help workers discover if they may 
have been underpaid, see National Minimum Wage and Living Wage calculator for 
workers. 
For more information on National Minimum Enforcement see National minimum 
wage law: enforcement, and for enforcement statistics from the 2019/20 financial 
year see the Enforcement and Compliance report.