National minimum wage: Employers beware

Is the national minimum wage (NMW) rises year on year this increases the importance of SMEs conducting a balancing exercise to ensure payment of sufficiently high salaries to enable recruitment and retention of quality staff, whilst at the same time seeking to minimise business costs as far as possible. Nonetheless, all SMEs/OMBs must comply with their remuneration obligations to pay the NMW and this is particularly important in light of the government’s proposal to introduce a stricter enforcement regime.
The National Minimum Wage Act 1998 entitles nearly all UK employees to receive the NMW, which was intended to protect from rogue employers those groups of vulnerable employees who are likely to be exploited.