Ms Patricia King:

On non-payment, members will be familiar with the terms of the National Minimum Wage Act 2000. The provisions relating to the proof of inability to pay take up two and half pages. From my experience on the Low Pay Commission, it is interesting that since 2000, 20 years on, not one claim has ever gone before the Labour Court where an employer was unable to pay. There is a reason for that. The provisions of the Act state that an employer must prove he cannot pay. In other words, the employer must open his books. Employers do not want to do that.

I have not read any proposals on an insurance mechanism. However, it seems that it would be an avoidance mechanism for saying we do not to want to tell why we are unable to pay. That is wrong. If employers expect the State to support them on inability to pay, then they at least should prove to the State that they cannot pay. That is reasonable.

Other schemes and other areas of conditions of employment that have included insurance-based programmes may have been considered. We have not seen anything, so I am not going to comment on anything we have not seen. I am familiar with the inability to pay provisions of the minimum wage Act, however. They require proof and that is the reason we have not seen any claims.