Name and shame

Public policy usage

• The UK government established a scheme in 2010 to "name businesses which have failed to pay the National Minimum Wage to their employees. The policy objective of the naming scheme is "to raise awareness of minimum wage enforcement and deter employers who would otherwise be tempted to break minimum wage law". According to a government policy statement, this practice has been adopted because "the government recognises that some employers are more likely to respond to the social and economic sanctions that may flow from details of their payment practices being made public, than from financial deterrents".
• In December 2018 the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy introduced a "naming scheme" to exert reputational pressure on employers who fail to pay Employment Tribunal awards, following publication of government research which found that 34% of employment tribunal awards in England and Wales and 46% in Scotland remained unpaid.
• In 2013, Citizens Advice recommended that the UK's Consumer Bill of Rights should be backed up by action by trading standards regulators to "name and shame" businesses which have failed to correct poor practices which affect consumers.