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Firms skimping on paying minimum wage rates to their staff could face criminal prosecution following a recent case in Yorkshire.

The owners of a Sheffield butcher's shop have been fined more than £11,000 to two former employees who they failed to pay the National Minimum Wage, in the first-such prosecution in the county.

Students who are worried about working below-minimum-wage jobs on a part-time basis to support their studies could be pleased to hear employers who are failing to pay workers the rate are facing prosecutions.

David Jackson and his daughter Pauline Smout, of Jackson's Butchers, Chaucer Road pleaded guilty to neglecting to pay two former employees the minimum wage at Sheffield magistrate's court on Wednesday (July 2nd).

In sentencing, deputy district Judge Hatton said: "The appalling way you treated these employees meant that both [employees] lost out. The simple fact was that they are entitled to this money, and they will get it."

Employment relations minister, Pat McFadden said the case reflects the government's determination to crack down on rogue employers who underpay their staff.

Powers are being toughened up to punish those who do not pay the minimum wage, she added.

The national minimum wage – initially of £3.60 per hour – was introduced in the UK in 1999 and was strongly opposed by the Conservative Party.

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