Almost 200 businesses across the UK have been named by the HMRC for breaking national minimum wage laws.
Amongst the extensive list is APC Care Limited, a company providing ‘residential care activities’ from its base in Herstmonceux. The report showed it failed to pay £6311.6 to 39 workers.
All the named employers across the UK have since been made to pay back what they owed, and were fined an additional £3.2 million, showing it is never acceptable to underpay workers.
Business Minister Paul Scully said: “Our minimum wage laws are there to ensure a fair day’s work gets a fair day’s pay – it is unacceptable for any company to come up short.”
Employers who pay workers less than the minimum wage have to pay back arrears of wages to the worker at current minimum wage rates.
They also face hefty financial penalties of up to 200% of arrears – capped at £20,000 per worker – which are paid to the government.
A significant number of the minimum wage breaches identified in the report affected those on apprenticeships. The government has published new guidance to ensure employers know exactly what they need to do to pay their apprentices, and all workers, correctly.
