Businesses that fail to pay staff the new national living wage will face fines of up to £20,000, David Cameron has said.
The Prime Minister has vowed to ensure rogue employers "pay the price" if they do not ensure members of staff are given the Conservative Party's wage boost.
George Osborne announced in the Budget that Britain would "get a pay rise".
Putting the new living wage at the heart of his "one nation" agenda, the Prime Minister announced a series of tough new measures to ensure that businesses comply.
The fine for not paying the new living wage will be a maximum of £20,000, Downing Street said.
They will double the fines for non-payment of the living wage. Currently a firm is fined 100 per cent of arrears for non-payment of the minimum wage but that will double to 200 per cent when the new living wage comes in to force.
Any employer found guilty of non-compliance could be prevented from becoming a company director for 15 years, Mr Cameron added.
"The National Living Wage will be introduced in April, giving low-paid workers a £20 a week pay rise," the Prime Minister said.
"By the end of the decade, it will reach at least £9 an hour. Combine that with an increase in the Personal Allowance to £12,500, and you can see the power of the modern Conservative Party’s One Nation message. We back work. We promote well-paid work. We want you to keep more of your own money. That's why we can say: we are the true party of working people in Britain today.
"But the National Living Wage will only work if it is properly enforced. Businesses are responsible for making that happen, and today I’m announcing how we will make sure they do."
Writing in The Times, he added: "We’ve already doubled the fines for non-payment of the National Minimum Wage – and we will double them again for that and the National Living Wage.
"We will significantly increase the enforcement budget, set up a new team in HMRC to take forward criminal prosecutions for those who deliberately don’t comply, and, from this autumn, ensure that anyone found guilty will be considered for disqualification from being a company director for 15 years.
"All that will be all overseen by a new Labour Market Enforcement Director. So to unscrupulous employers who think they can get labour on the cheap, the message is clear: underpay your staff, and you will pay the price."
Mr Cameron also launched a thinly-veiled attack on Jeremy Corbyn, the front runner in the race to become Labour leader.
He said: "Look at today’s Labour leadership candidates. All of them are in a race to the left, vowing to borrow, tax and spend more – all the things that failed in the last century and were rejected at the last election. Listening to some of the anti-NATO, anti-American, profoundly anti-business and enterprise debates is like groundhog day. Labour aren’t learning. They’re slaves to a failed dogma that has always left working people paying the price."
He said that Labour's "obedience" to Union bosses shows that the Tories are "the true party of working people today".
He said: "One of their most disturbing tendencies is their obedience to left wing Union leaders – the people who are behind the Tube strikes that have wrought chaos in the capital this summer.
"We are changing the law so that strikes can only go ahead for essential services with a 50 per cent turnout and 40 per cent support. We are condemning walkouts that are not the absolute last resort.
"This contrast between Labour support for disruptive strikes and our action to help people get on again drives home the point: who is the true party of working people today?"
