“She does not deserve the national minimum wage because she only makes the teas and sweeps the floors,” is just one of the excuses a business used for not paying the minimum wage, HMRC has revealed.

Branding such reasons ‘outrageous’ and ‘absurd’, the government department has published nine more excuses for the public’s viewing pleasure.

They are as follows:

• “The employee was not a good worker, so I did not think they deserved to be paid the national minimum wage.”
• “My accountant and I speak a different language – he does not understand me, and that is why he does not pay my workers the correct wages.”
• “My employee is still learning so they are not entitled to the national minimum wage.”
• “It is part of UK culture not to pay young workers for the first three months as they have to prove their ‘worth’ first.”
• “The national minimum wage does not apply to my business.”
• “I have got an agreement with my workers that I will not pay them the national minimum wage; they understand, and they even signed a contract to this effect.”
• “I thought it was okay to pay young workers below the national minimum wage as they are not British and therefore do not have the right to be paid it.”
• “My workers like to think of themselves as being self-employed and the national minimum wage does not apply to people who work for themselves.”
• “My workers are often just on standby when there are no customers in the shop; I only pay them for when they are actually serving someone.”

HMRC says it helped over 155,000 people recover £16m in pay in the 2020/21 tax year while handing out £14m in penalties.

“The majority of UK employers pay their workers at least the national minimum wage, but this list shows some of the excuses provided to our enforcement officers by less scrupulous businesses,” says HMRC director of individuals and small business compliance Steve Timewell.

He adds: “Being underpaid is no joke for workers, so we always apply the law and take action. Workers cannot be asked or told to sign-away their rights.

“HMRC reviews every complaint made about the minimum wage, so if you think you are being short-changed, or are a business that is unsure of the rules or needs help to get things right, get in touch and we will help you. But any employer deliberately or unapologetically underpaying their staff will face hefty fines and other enforcement action.”

In other news pertaining to wages, today Teachers Building Society has stated that it will offer consistent pay for works across all locations – a topic likely to receive more attention as a working from home culture solidifies.

The lender’s chief executive Simon Beresford comments: “The pandemic has shown us that flexible working is the right option for our colleagues and we intend to continue working in this way for the long term.

“Over the last 18 months our colleagues have adapted to different ways of working and have helped us to deliver the strongest business results in our 55-year history.

“As an employer we want to be the most flexible building society for our scale to attract and retain the best talent and we firmly believe that allowing colleagues to decide where to work without it affecting their income is an important part of that.

“This way of working also gives our business the opportunity to recruit new talent from anywhere in the UK rather than limited to the immediate vicinity of our office, something we’ve already commenced doing very successfully.”