HAMPSHIRE County Council has been 'named and shamed' for failing to pay its lowest-paid staff minimum wage.

Over 200 employers have been 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 Hampshire County Council, which failed to pay £1,543.13 to 24 workers.

It failed to pay the employees on average £64.30 between September 3, 2013, and May 29, 2017. 

Responding to the revelation, a council spokesperson said:  “With a total workforce of over 45,000, we take our responsibilities relating to compliance with pay legislation very seriously. The issues raised to us by HMRC following an audit in 2018/19, spanned a six year period, in relation to a small number of staff who were employed directly by schools on short-term contracts of less than one year.

"We rectified the errors as soon as they were brought to our attention and apologised to those affected. Following investigation, we believe these to be genuine, isolated, local administrative errors affecting the pay of a very small number of individuals.

"However, we are not complacent, and we clarified and re-issued the guidance we provide in relation to payments of this kind.”

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.

"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.