Sir Malcolm Walker, Iceland’s founder and chief executive, described the dispute over the scheme as “just madness” Nick Ansell/PAA Christmas savings scheme offered to staff at Iceland Foods has backfired spectacularly after HM Revenue & Customs accused the company of breaching minimum wage rules and threatened it with a bill of at least £21 million to put right. Sir Malcolm Walker, Iceland’s founder and chief executive, described the dispute — about a scheme that helps low-paid staff to set aside money over the year to help to pay for Christmas — as “just madness”. Iceland is also accused of breaching minimum wage rules because it issued guidance for shopfloor staff to wear “sensible shoes”. HMRC said that staff should be compensated for shoes they had bought to wear to work. The tax authority is claiming that because staff voluntarily had sums deducted from…

Source: The Times January 01, 2019 23:59 UTC