By Brad Young, money feature writer
Full-time working adults are between £1,400 and £2,500 a year better off from today, thanks to a rise in the minimum wage.
Employees aged 21 and over are entitled to £12.21 an hour, 77p more, representing a 6.7% increase.
Staff aged 18 to 20 will see their wages increase from £8.60 to £10 an hour, or 16.3%.
But many businesses have failed to pay the minimum wage in the past.
This time last year, the government named and shamed 524 companies for failing to pay £16m in wages to 172,000 workers.
Unpaid additional hours, travel time, trial shifts and mandatory training are among the reasons staff aren’t paid their due.
Payments for meals, parking, travel, till shortages and uniforms can also be to blame, as well as errors in employment status.
So what can you do if you’re being paid less? The Money team spoke with Lucie Garvin from the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service to find out…
There are several ways to solve the problem – from an informal chat to an employment tribunal.
However you do it, keep “as much information to hand as possible”, says Garvin.
This could include payslips, bank statements, receipts and dates when issues were noticed and steps taken.
Informally
“It’s usually best to raise it informally with your employer first,” says Garvin.
“It may be a genuine error, and a casual conversation might resolve the issue.”
But there are some excuses to watch out for, as Garvin explains.
The following do not contribute to your salary:
- Tips and gratuities
- Company car
- Cycle-to-work schemes
- Car fuel
- Work phone
- Other benefits in kind
“Your employer should still be paying you at least the minimum even if you are receiving perks such as these,” says Garvin.
Formal grievance
If you are still not being paid the correct amount after raising the issue, you can make a formal complaint to your boss.
“Some people might find it quite a daunting idea to raise a concern with their employer, but sometimes it’s a genuine mistake they did not realise has been made.
“Talking to the employer informally or sending them a more formal letter or email can be enough to highlight the issue and get it resolved.”
HMRC or tribunal
People who feel they are not able to approach their employer themselves or who try without success can raise the issue with HMRC’s National Minimum Wage enforcement team, or by making a claim to an employment tribunal.
Importantly, they cannot do both.
“There are also strict time limits for making a claim to an employment tribunal,” says Garvin.
Single payment: If there was a single underpayment or non-payment, you have three months minus one day from the date you should have been paid to make a claim.
Multiple payments: If there were several in a row, you have three months minus one day from the most recent incorrect deduction.
One mistake not to make
“Some employees may wrongly think their pay must go up from 1 April when the new rate increases, or when they have a birthday and go into a higher bracket of pay, but this isn’t always true,” says Garvin.
Increases in National Minimum Wage are paid from the next ‘pay reference period’ after the increase, which refers to the period of time you’re being paid for, which could be a week or a month – but no longer.
So if you’re paid on the 15th of each month, you will only start receiving the higher hourly rate from 16 April.
