300,000 paid less than minimum wage. Yet in the past year, no
companies were prosecuted
The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings for the Office for
National Statistics recently found that about 287,000 workers were paid at less
than the minimum wage in 2012, although the TUC puts the figure closer to
350,000. But despite ministers’ claims that the government is getting tough on
under-payers, the last successful criminal prosecution was in February 2013. That
was one of only two prosecutions during the government’s entire term of office
to date, according to figures given to parliament. The cases involved the
imposition of fines to the value of £3,696 on an opticians in Manchester and
£1,000 on a security company in London. Failing to pay the minimum wage was
made a criminal offence in 2007. Under Labour, seven organisations were
prosecuted, including Torbay council. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) said that only
the most serious breaches of the national minimum wage are prosecuted. But
because the average cost of a successful prosecution was around £50,000 HMRC
believed it was preferable to focus on recouping wages for workers through
civil penalty powers. HMRC conducted 1,455 investigations in 2013-14, securing
over £4.6m in wage arrears for over 22,000 workers. The number of HMRC staff
enforcing the minimum wage now stands at 194, which is 40 more than in 2009-10.
GUARDIAN
Business organisation
IoD attacks 'excessive' £25m pay deal for new head of BG Group (British Gas)
A proposed £25m pay package for the new head of oil and gas
giant BG Group has been branded "excessive" and
"inflammatory" by the Institute of Directors (IoD). Simon Walker,
director general of the IoD, said Helge Lund's deal would damage the reputation
of UK business. The IoD acknowledged its criticism was strong, coming from a
body whose job is to promote the interests of UK firms. Speaking to the BBC, Walker
said: "We think in any terms this £25m pay settlement is grossly
excessive, it will inflame public sentiment , it will be a red rag to the
critics of capitalism." He added that the timing of the deal, so close to
a general election, could put executive pay on the political agenda. "It
damages the reputation of British business as a whole to behave in this cavalier
fashion, that has no regard for strongly held public sentiment... this is six
months before a general election, in which you have an opposition that is
already campaigning vigorously against big business." Mr Walker said the £25m
sum was especially excessive given BG's size. Chief executives at the
much-larger Royal Dutch Shell and BP have smaller pay packages. The IoD has
raised eyebrows before with criticism of pay and bonus issues at Barclays and
Sports Direct. But an IoD accepted that this BG criticism was its strongest yet
of a major company. Some BG shareholders have also voiced concern about the
size of the annual pay package being offered by the FTSE 100 company. The
Investment Management Association, a body representing shareholders, issued a
"red top" alert - a warning about potential corporate governance
breaches.
BBC NEWS
European Commission boss
Juncker on defensive over Luxembourg tax deals, struck when he was PM
Jean-Claude Juncker’s fitness to head the EU’s executive for
the next five years came under lacerating attack in the European parliament on
Monday evening, with British, French and Italian far-right and populist leaders
denouncing his record in facilitating massive corporate tax avoidance when he was Prime Minister of Luxembourg for almost
two decades. The details of Luxembourg’s record as a centre for tax avoidance
came in leaks of more than 28,000 documents that revealed how the authorities,
headed by Juncker, reached agreements with more than 300 global companies
allowing them to minimise their liabilities.
But despite the damage to Juncker’s credibility the leaders of the
biggest caucuses in the parliament, the Christian and social democrats, made
plain that they supported him and sought to use the debate to turn their fire
on the anti-EU far right. Meanwhile, Luc Dockendorf, a Luxembourg diplomat with
the United Nations, emerged as one of the few figures within the Grand Duchy
establishment to voice criticism of the country’s record on taxing
multinationals. Writing in the Luxembourger Wort, a paper traditionally
supportive of Juncker, he and Benoît Majerus, a historian at the University of
Luxembourg, said: “We’ve been living at the expense of others. Not just other
states, but other people, like ourselves, who have been paying their taxes,
while corporations in their own countries have been dodging them. It is no
longer possible to pretend that the Luxembourgish model has no negative
consequences for other countries.” Gabi Zimmer of Germany’s hard-left Die Linke
pointed out that 22 of 28 EU countries operated tax avoidance schemes similar
to Luxembourg’s, if not on the same scale. But she blamed the commission chief
for encouraging the practices: “It’s the Juncker system, that’s the problem.”
GUARDIAN
MPs back opposition bill
in attempt to limit NHS 'privatisation'
Under the bill, compulsory tendering for NHS contracts would
end and NHS hospitals' income generated by private patients would be
restricted. It would restore ultimate responsibility for the NHS to the health
secretary, stop NHS hospitals earning up to 49% of their income from private
patients, and would exempt the NHS from an EU-US trade treaty known as TTIP. Critics
fear TTIP could lead to American companies suing future governments for
reversing privatisation. Those who voted in favour of the bill included two
Conservative and seven Lib Dem rebels. The bill also drew support from newly
elected UKIP MP Mark Reckless, saying he had previously been "guilty of
having believed the undertakings I was given by those on the government
frontbench" about the NHS reforms. Although MPs backed it in a vote by 241
to 18, as a private member's bill – brought by Labour MP Clive Efford - it has only a slim chance of becoming law. But
shadow health secretary Andy Burnham promised that even if the bill did not
become law, Labour would repeal the 2012 Act.
BBC NEWS
