Over 22,000 minimum wage workers to receive back-pay

HM Revenue & Customs have released a report naming and shaming over 200 employers after a record number of people had fallen victim to illegally low pay. The firms have been further fined £1.97m and will have to pay £1.44m in backpay.

The most common reason for failing to pay properly were company deductions from wages for costs such as uniforms, underpaying apprentices, failing to pay travel time, misusing the accommodation offset and using the wrong time periods for calculating pay

According to the annual list published by the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy, employers in social care, hospitality and catering were most likely to underpay their staff.

In social care, 22 providers underpaid a total of 580 workers and 70 hospitality and catering companies underpaid 612 workers.

The worst employer this time around was Card Factory, which underpaid more than 10,000 shop workers by a total of £430,000.

The Odeon and UCI Cinema Group failed to pay £4,438.92 to 237 workers, with average arrears of £18.73 per worker.

Business minister, Andrew Griffiths, said: “Our priority is making sure workers know their rights and are getting the pay they worked hard for. Employers who don’t do the right thing face fines as well as being hit with the bill for backpay.

“The UK’s lowest paid workers have had the fastest wage growth in 20 years thanks to the introduction of the national living wage and today’s list serves as a reminder to all employers to check they are getting their workers’ pay right.

Here are the top ten culprits of this latest batch:

1. Sportswift Limited, trading as Card Factory, Wakefield WF2, failed to pay £430,097.87 to 10,256 workers, with average arrears of £41.94 per worker
2. T.J. Morris Limited, trading as Home Bargains, Liverpool L11, failed to pay £272,228.44 to 6,743 workers, with average arrears of £40.37 per worker.
3. John Stanley’s Care Agency Limited, Tendring CO7, failed to pay £60,056.80 to 91 workers, with average arrears of £659.96 per worker
4. Fosse Healthcare Limited, Leicester LE4, failed to pay £50,170.06 to 185 workers, with average arrears of £271.19 per worker
5. ASAP 24/7 Ltd, Newcastle-under-Lyme ST5, failed to pay £41,166.31 to 74 workers, with average arrears of £556.30 per worker
6. Methodist Guild Holidays Limited, trading as Christian Guild, Derbyshire Dales DE4, failed to pay £29,255.09 to 136 workers, with average arrears of £215.11 per worker
7. AM 2 PM Recruitment Solutions (Birmingham) Limited, Birmingham B72, failed to pay £22,919.12 to 2,057 workers, with average arrears of £11.14 per worker
8. Ms Hazel Weaver, trading as Orkney and Shetland Charters, Orkney Islands KW17, failed to pay £20,148.60 to five workers, with average arrears of £4,029.72 per worker
9. The Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes, trading as NAAFI, Portsmouth PO1, failed to pay £19,909.16 to 60 workers, with average arrears of £331.82 per worker
10. The Christian Conference Trust, Amber Valley DE55, failed to pay £15,479.62 to 28 workers, with average arrears of £552.84 per worker.

You can find the full list of employers here.