Nottingham recruitment giant investigating National Minimum Wage underpayment

Staffline, the Nottingham recruitment giant, says it is investigating historic compliance with National Minimum Wage regulations, following the decision to delay the publication of its annual results for 2018.

Trading in shares in Staffline were suspended at the end of January after the company announced the delay.

The company said it wouldn’t be announcing its results because of potential irregularities in the invoicing and payroll practices in its recruitment division.

Staffline instigated a review and appointed independent legal advisers as well as instructing the Group’s auditors to extend their scope of work.

A statement from Staffline this morning (30 April) said: “Significant progress has been made on the extended audit and the Board continues to expect to report, subject to audit completion, an underlying trading performance for the year ended 31 December 2018 in line with expectations.

“The key outstanding matter in finalising the results relates to the Group’s historical compliance with National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015. This is a complex area and management, in conjunction with HMRC and supported by an independent advisor, are assessing the significant amount of historic data and transactions, which will then be subject to audit. Once the work is completed and audited, Staffline will release its preliminary results and shareholders will be updated as appropriate.”