Estate agency chain Connells has expressed disappointment after it appeared on an official list of 92 employers that failed to pay the National Minimum Wage.
The firm said it had been a one-off incident that was immediately rectified once identified.
The firm appeared on the government list in 21st place, with the claim it had failed to pay £2,049.14 to one employee.
Between them, the 92 companies named owed £1,873,712 in arrears.
Since the ‘name and shame’ scheme was introduced by the Government in October 2013, 490 employers have been listed, with total arrears of over £3m and total penalties of over £1.1m.
Business minister Nick Boles said: “As a one nation government on the side of working people we are determined that everyone who is entitled to the National Minimum Wage receives it.
“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.”
The 92 cases were described as having been thoroughly investigated by HMRC.
But a spokesperson for Connells said: “Connells Residential is extremely disappointed to be included on the Department for Business Innovation & Skills’ national minimum wage naming scheme’s list of companies that have breached the regulations.
“This was an isolated administrative error regarding just one member of staff which, once identified, was immediately corrected and the outstanding monies owed were paid to the individual concerned.
“The Connells Group employs over 6,000 people, and is fully aware of the national minimum wage requirements.
“We seek to reward all our people fairly and the vast majority earn significantly more than the national minimum wage.”
Comments (4)
In fairness I can well believe it was an administrative error. I remember hearing a friend of a friend a few years back laughing that his wife had left Connells over a year previously and she was STILL being paid. What made it obscure was that it was always different amounts, always in the hundreds rather than thousands but different every month. The lowest amount was in the region of £150 and the highest was over £700. Totally immoral to keep it and not notify Connells in my opinion but astonishing that it was going on in the first place. It wouldn’t surprise me if she was still being paid now.
£1 an hour us lots to be underpaid. it’s not a small amount, to let it get to £2k they should be shamed. don’t believe they really belong on that list though
Thats appalling of the govt. If it was an admin error for 1 staff member out of 6000 then thats just nasty of the govt.
How many things do the govt screw up on – the newspapers would be full of who and in which govt dept made the screw up all day every day.
Some poor neg earning 12k a year working 50 plus hours a week no doubt. And still being given grief over not booking enough mortgage appointments!