The first National Minimum Wage criminal prosecution has taken place with the owner of a children’s nursery being fined £2,500 plus £500 costs under the National Minimum Wage Act.

HM Revenue and Customs has the right to demand to see pay records to check that bosses are paying staff correctly and that the National Minimum Wage is being met.

The guilty party in this case was obstructive and unhelpful and went out of her way, it is claimed, to make it difficult to inspect her accounts. The court found that there was a wilful refusal to cooperate when the revenue officers visited her nursery to inspect her accounts.

Perhaps Ms Teresa Aguda, who owned Rascals Day Nursery, had been advised that if she is paying less than the minimum wage she could be forced to pay back pay to staff who have received less than they were legally entitled.

Clearly, for someone who had been in business for seven years, this could be very expensive indeed, hence the obstruction. The National Minimum Wage is currently set at £5.35 for employees over twenty one.

Although it may be tempting for some employees to flout the law in this regard, the PR and future recruitment consequences of non-compliance, not to mention the risk of having to fork out back pay, hardly seems worth the risk of having saved the odd bob or two.