National Minimum Wage Naming Scheme

Lincolnshire Co-op has been named in round 22 of the National Minimum Wage Naming Scheme.

This relates to a HMRC review which concluded in 2022. It found that employees, who had independently chosen to rent Lincolnshire Co-op owned-accommodation, were deemed to have been underpaid, as their rental payments took them underneath National Minimum Wage (NMW).

A spokesperson for Lincolnshire Co-op said: “As well as a community retailer, we are also a residential landlord with around 100 rental properties.

“Colleagues who had independently rented our accommodation through letting agents - which was unrelated to their employment or remuneration - were deemed to have been underpaid by HMRC, as their rental payments took them underneath National Minimum Wage (NMW).

"We appealed to various government bodies at that time as we felt our situation justified an exemption, similar to that allowed to local authorities/social landlords but unfortunately this was unsuccessful.

“In line with the findings of the review, we refunded past and current employees monies owed and we are no longer renting accommodation to Society colleagues.

“This legislation is welcome to protect employees from being exploited, especially when accommodation is part of the remuneration, or benefits package offered. However, we do believe that there may be more exemptions possible in cases where accommodation is independent from employment. We hope this will be considered in future reviews of the legislation.”