© 2004 by Industrial Law Society
The National Minimum Wage Five Years On: Reflections on Some General Issues
1 London School of Economics
This article reflects on the early experience of a universal minimum wage for all workers in Britain. The issues which are identified as worthy of comment are first, the coverage of the legislation both in terms of which workers qualify for the national minimum wage at either the full or ‘development’ rate, and in terms of the numbers affected by the rates which have been set. Second, it looks at how the provisions on calculating the working time for which the minimum wage should be paid is determined and identifies some inconsistency in the early case law and uncertainty over how to make appropriate provision for workers on piece rate payment systems. The third area examined is that of enforcement where despite a generally positive endorsement of the work of the Inland Revenue as enforcement officers, there remains concern at the inability of all the enforcement initiatives that have been put in place to reach into areas where underpayment is likely to be most prevalent. By way of conclusion it is observed that it seems clear that the minimum wage legislation appears to have limited goals and there is no evidence of moves to build on it by further initiatives to increase the legal regulation of pay.