The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has called for more resources to be given to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs Service (HMRC) to clamp down on employers who avoid paying staff the minimum wage, following the naming of shaming of employers who have been fined for not paying their staff the statutory minimum hourly rate of pay.
HMRC has today published a list of 198 employers who have been named and shamed for failing to pay staff the national living wage. Amongst the employers are football clubs, hotels and care homes, with arrears of £466,219 owed to employees. The highest was San Lorenzo Ltd in Wimbledon, London, who owed just under £100,000 to 30 workers.
In the North West, twenty-seven employers have been named and shamed for failing to pay their staff properly, totalling nearly £30,000. The highest in the region was Ray Macfarlane, who trading as Rays Auto Custom Services in Blackburn, owed £4,396.74 to two workers. Featured in the list were a range of businesses including Blackpool Football Club who owed £517.88 to one worker. The full NW list is:
Reacting to the news, Lynn Collins, North West TUC Regional Secretary said “It is shocking that so many employers across the region have failed to pay workers the basic minimum.
“Getting workers the money they are owed is important but simply naming and shaming the employers isn’t deterring others from doing it. There needs to be penalties for any bad boss who thinks about short changing their.
“HMRC staff deserve credit for winning back thousands of pounds for cheated employees but they need greater resources to catch those who cheat their staff.”
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS:
-The HMRC announcement is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/largest-ever-list-of-national-minimum-wage-offenders-published which includes the full list of employers
- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk
-Follow the TUC on Twitter: @tucnews
Contacts:
Media enquiries:
Jay McKenna T:0151 482 2717 M: 07788 414578 E: jmckenna@tuc.org.uk
Lynn Collins T: 0151 482 2710 M: 07786 190541
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