115 firms named and shamed for not paying minimum wage

More than 100 employers who underpaid workers almost £400,000 have been named and shamed by the Government in the latest drive to make sure firms pay the national minimum wage.

The 115 companies are in sectors including retail, hairdressing, education, catering and social care.

The £389,000 has already been paid back and the firms will have to pay penalties following investigations by HM Revenue and Customs.

More than 400 employers have now been named and shamed since ministers launched the scheme two years ago, with total arrears of £1.1 million and penalties of over £500,000.

Firms named today include Monsoon Accessorize Ltd which owed £104,000 to 1,400 workers, Tyne & Wear Riding for the Disabled Association (£27,000 to six workers), Project Security in Doncaster (£23,000 to 18 workers) and Carl Keith Salons, Prescot, Merseyside, (£20,000 to five workers).

Others named included hairdressers, a taxi firm, hotels, a nursery school and a funeral director.

Business minister Nick Boles said: "Employers who fail to pay the minimum wage hurt the living standards of the lowest paid and their families."

He pledged that the new national living wage of £7.20 an hour for over 25-year-olds from next April will be enforced "equally robustly" as the minimum wage, currently £6.70.

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "It's good to see that the Government is naming and shaming more companies who pay their employees less than the minimum wage.

"However, today's list of offenders is only the tip of the iceberg. Many more employers are getting away with illegal underpayment."

Sarah Vero, director of the Living Wage Foundation, which sets the rate of the voluntary Living Wage, said: "The national minimum wage is intended as a benchmark to avoid exploitation. It's saddening to hear that a number of employers are failing to implement this properly and we hope that the enforcement of the legal minimums continues to ensure that those at the bottom of the payscale are protected and employers regardless of size are held to account.

"There are a number of employers listed, including high street names, that we hope will consider their pay practices and look to improving how they reward staff.

"The Living Wage is a voluntary rate that over 1,800 businesses pay. Our Living Wage rate, based on the cost of living, rewards a hard day's work with a fair day's pay. It's time for business to stop clinging to rates around the minimum, research shows that customers expect better than that."

The Living Wage is set at £7.85 an hour - £9.15 in London - and is due to be uprated next month.