Claimant v Commissioners for Revenue & Customs — 2025

The appellant appealed against a notice of underpayment issued under the National Minimum Wage Act 1998. The appeal challenged the requirement to pay a penalty on the basis that directions made by the Secretary of State prevented the imposition of a penalty and/or that the penalty had been incorrectly calculated.

The Tribunal considered section 19C of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 and found that the only relevant grounds were that the notice was served in circumstances covered by a direction under section 19A(2), or that the financial penalty was incorrectly calculated. The Tribunal found that none of the Secretary of State directions relied on in the materials applied, and that the appellant had not produced or referred to guidance bringing the case within those directions.

The Tribunal also found that nothing advanced by the appellant suggested the penalty had been incorrectly calculated; it recorded that the calculation was accepted as correct. The appellant’s submissions about mitigation, absence of aggravating features, proportionality, fairness, and section 12A of the Employment Tribunals Act 1996 did not provide a stateable statutory ground of appeal, so the appeal was dismissed as having no reasonable prospects of success.