Luton firm named and shamed as minimum wage offenders

The Luton employer formed part of a list of 92 named and shamed for between them owing a total of £1,873,712 in arrears.

The list covers sectors including hairdressing, social care, hospitality and security services.

And the Luton firm named was Social Health Care Ltd trading as Caremark Luton and Beds which failed to pay £176.11 to one employee.

Since the scheme was introduced in October 2013, 490 employers have been named and shamed, with total arrears of more than £3 million and total penalties of over £1.1m.

Business Minister Nick Boles said the government is proving it is ‘on the side of working people’.

“We are determined that everyone who is entitled to the National Minimum Wage receives it,” Mr Boles said.

“There is no excuse for not paying staff the wages they’re entitled to. Our policy of naming and shaming employers who ignore the law means there are consequences for their reputation as well as their wallets.

“In April we will introduce a new National Living Wage which will mean a pay rise of over £900-a-year for someone working full time on the minimum wage and we will enforce this equally robustly.”

On 1 October 2015, the National Minimum Wage (NMW) rose to £6.70. Employers should be aware of the different rates for the National Minimum Wage depending on the circumstances of their workers.

The 92 cases named today were thoroughly investigated by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

The naming and shaming scheme was revised in October 2013 to make it simpler to name and shame employers that do not comply with minimum wage rules.

Businesses or employees who have any questions about the National Minimum Wage can contact Acas online by visiting www.acas.org.uk/nmw.