Named and shamed: Coppid Beech Hotel, Bracknell failed to pay minimum wage

Over 200 employers are today (Monday, December 13) being named and shamed by government for failing to pay their lowest paid staff the minimum wage.

The 208 employers were found to have failed to pay their workers £1.2 million in a clear breach of National Minimum Wage law, leaving around 12,000 workers out of pocket.

Among them is Coppid Beech Hotel, which failed to pay £24,862.62 to 138 workers.

Fred Larsson, Group Financial Controller at Coppid Beech Hotel, said this was due to 'underpayments caused by a misunderstanding of the technical aspects of deductions from wages of live-in staff'.

In a statement to the Bracknell News, he said: "The hotel at the time used to charge a security deposit when a member of staff started, which was then refunded at the end of their employment (or moving out of staff accommodation) but what the management was not aware of is that in the month it was charged it counted as reducing the pay below minimum wage.

"This was discovered when a HMRC NMW inspection started in early 2017 which was concluded in March 2018. The company repaid all the arrears as calculated by HMRC on the 29/3/2018 and informed the staff by letter of the reason for the payment."

Companies being named range from multinational businesses and large high street names to small and medium enterprises and sole traders, in a clear message that no employer is exempt from paying their workers the statutory minimum wage.

These businesses have since had to pay back what they owe to staff and also face significant financial penalties of up to 200 per cent of what was owed, which are paid to the government. The investigations by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs concluded between 2014 and 2019.

Minister for Labour Markets Paul Scully said: "We want workers to know that we're on their side and they must be treated fairly by their employers, which is why paying the legal minimum wage should be non-negotiable for businesses.

Don't be a scrooge

"Today's 208 businesses, whatever their size, should know better than to short-change hard-working employees, regardless of whether it was intentional or not.

"With Christmas fast approaching, it is more important than ever that cash is not withheld from the pockets of workers. So don't be a scrooge €“ pay your staff properly.""

Who else has been shamed?

You can use the table below to find all businesses in the UK which have been named and shamed by the government.

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