Thursday, February 11, 2010 |
Government releases consultation on travel and subsistence schemes and the National Minimum Wage |
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The Government has today released a consultation regarding the interaction between travel and subsistence schemes and the National Minimum Wage. |
This is the first time that it has released a clear statement regarding this matter, something the REC has called for since October 2008. In the document, the Government clearly states that expenses payments gained for matters which are not in connection with employment can count towards wages for the purposes of seeing if a worker has received national minimum wage. An example of something which is not in connection with employment would be travel to and from home and the place of work. The consultation then proposes that the National Minimum Wage Regulations should be changed. It is proposed that in future such expenses could not be used for the calculation of wages, to see if a worker has reached national minimum wage. The consultation is due to close on 6th May 2010 and it is proposed that if the Government chooses to change the National Minimum Wage Regulations, that this would be completed in time for 1st October 2010. The Government consultation can be downloaded at: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/consult_minimumwage_expenses.pdf The REC notes that this position, that travel expenses can be used to make up minimum wage, is in line with the GLA's Brief on the matter, released at the end of last year: http://www.gla.gov.uk/embedded_object.asp?id=1013617 This Brief states that only expenses 'in connection with' employment do not count towards national minimum wage. Source: REC website Date: 11th February 2010 http://www.rec.uk.com/press/news/946
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