Naming offending individuals or businesses (with the implied objective of
shaming them) is sometimes used as an instrument of public policy intended to promote compliance with legal obligations or with the duty to put right the damage caused by non-compliance. Examples are: •
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 that have failed to correct poor practices which affect consumers. • From July 2008, the
NSW Food Authority has a public list of businesses that have breached food safety regulations to give "consumers more information to make decisions about where they eat or buy food". ==See also==