With changes expected to be announced about the UK’s current National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW) rates in the near future, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has updated its checking process.

As part of HMRC’s NMW check process, you, as an employer, are required to complete a self-review of your company’s records and HMRC has updated its factsheet with what it expects employers to do.

How does the self-review work?

Your appointed case officer will tell you which information and records HMRC wants to look at because, as a UK employer, you must be paying your employees at least the NMW and NLW.

The review you conduct will depend on several factors, including the size of your workforce, the work that is carried out and the number of workers who have not been paid the correct rate of NMW.

In addition to this, you also need to consider the changing NMW rates and whether the contracts of your workers have changed.

As part of the self-review process, you will need to work out if there are any outstanding NMW debts.

You need to look at each pay reference period separately and work out if there are any underpayments, divide that by the NMW rate at the time and multiply that figure by the current NMW rate.

Once the self-review is complete, you must submit the information to HMRC and confirm employee details and the period in which they were underpaid.

You are also required to keep all details of your self-review for future reference, in case HMRC decides to run another NMW check on your company.

Support available for businesses

Analysing your payroll records will take time, but it is important that you ensure you meet the current NMW and NLW requirements.

Our expert team can help you meet your obligations and submit the correct information.

For support with your NMW self-review, contact our team.