Businesses named and shamed by government for not paying minimum wage

I see there's a lot of day nurseries and homecare services.

And quite a few breweries/pubs...
Lots of local newspapers have picked this up and listed the businesses in their area.

A roll call of dishonour.

What about the ones which employ teams of illegal immigrants? One home carer said she was receiving £3 per hour!

NotSpaghetti

I see there's a lot of day nurseries and homecare services.

I was just about to note that, too.

It's quite a list, isn't it?

A really upmarket Italian restaurant in Hale, Cheshire (we’ve only been once - a special celebration) was recently fined £80,000 (lawyers mitigated it down from £120k) for hiring a chef (4 years) and 2 other kitchen staff (one a year, one 4 months) after officials entered the premises. Think footballers & minor celebs. The chef outstayed his temporary visa. The restaurant was paying ‘cash in hand, no questions asked’.

“We based it on trust” said a spokesperson for the restaurant.
Yeh right.

It was in our local newspaper. How embarrassing for that high end business. Friends of ours who used to go fairly regularly, say they will no longer go.

And that's the way yo do it. Go elsewhere.

Day nurseries frequently have young staff who work very long hours, and who have not great access to training, it is to be honest not the way to provide quality childcare. This is not the case for all nurseries obviously but their inclusion on this list doesn't surprise me.

I read that being expected to go through long procedures to get ready for a shift should be paid as well as training hours if done online are home.
Apparently Holland and Barrett was guilty of this for some years and they say they have paid up now.

My daughter used to work part time for a (chain) shoe shop when she was a student. There she was expected to go in after work for team meetings - even on days she wasn't working. She would have to get taxis to attend sometimes and wasn't even paid for the time worked.

I think young people are often exploited. She knew this was wrong but it fitted very well with her A levels and later university work so after complaining a few times she mainly put up with it because otherwise she was happy there. 🤷‍♂️

This is a very interesting list. Seems it is countrywide- seen a couple not far from me, obviously businesses on the brink.
This is an excellent idea though- a decent day's pay for a decent day's work.

Holland and Barrett were bought by a Russian oligarch some years ago.

Never buy anything from there.

Galaxy

Day nurseries frequently have young staff who work very long hours, and who have not great access to training, it is to be honest not the way to provide quality childcare. This is not the case for all nurseries obviously but their inclusion on this list doesn't surprise me.

I totally get what you're saying Galaxy, and im not surprised either, but where nurseries are concerned the government has to take some of the blame for not giving the settings sufficient funding.

I live in London and a local restaurant was caught paying some staff with food!

I think it would be interesting to see the profits (and/or the salaries drawn by the people running the businesses) next to the figures about how little they pay their staff. It's one thing for a struggling company to pay low wages if the owners are poorly paid too, and another for people to exploit staff whilst being well paid themselves. Both are breaking the law if they pay below NMW, but there is a moral difference, I think.

It’s not unknown for small, family owned businesses to pay members of the family low rates so that they can then claim benefits.

Top one there, Euro Garages Limited, Guide, Blackburn, BB1, failed to pay £824,383.62 to 3,317 workers, is or was part of the business empire of the Issa brothers involved in Asda.

32nd in Sunday Times rich list worth 6 billion.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohsin_and_Zuber_Issa

Crikey PaynesGrey that’s shocking. Unadulterated greed.

Look at the big supermarkets.

Desdemona

Look at the big supermarkets.

I should say, some pay the bare minimum but expect the work of 3 staff.

Lathyrus3

Holland and Barrett were bought by a Russian oligarch some years ago.

Never buy anything from there.

Slight change of subject but unfortunately, if we only buy from British owned companies, our choices are getting very limited.

We will never know how many employees have accepted a low wage in order to claim benefits.

NotSpaghetti

My daughter used to work part time for a (chain) shoe shop when she was a student. There she was expected to go in after work for team meetings - even on days she wasn't working. She would have to get taxis to attend sometimes and wasn't even paid for the time worked.

I think young people are often exploited. She knew this was wrong but it fitted very well with her A levels and later university work so after complaining a few times she mainly put up with it because otherwise she was happy there. 🤷‍♂️

My DC had similar problems as students.
Working for supermarkets and pubs, paid for fixed hours, but expected to stay after those hours to help close up, wipe down tables etc.
About going in for meetings out of hours, it’s not that long ago that TAs were ^offered the opportunity (expected) to attend after school training without pay. Nowadays, they claim for the hours.

How was this uncovered? Did the underpaid workers report it/ have to claim?