Restaurants, a farm and a supercar garage are among the Kent businesses today named and shamed by the government for underpaying staff.
Fourteen firms in the county were found to have been in breach of the National Minimum Wage law.
Clock House Farm in Coxheath previously featured in a four-part series of adverts for M&S showcasing its Victoria blackberries. Picture: KM
They include Maidstone-based Clock House Farm, which supplies fruit for M&S, and the Lanna Thai restaurant in Canterbury.
It follows investigations by HMRC which concluded between 2015-2022.
The businesses, which faced financial penalties of up to 200% of their underpayment, have since handed over the cash they owed staff.
In total in Kent, 1,298 employees were affected and £73,920 was repaid.
Minister for Employment Rights Justin Madders said: “There is no excuse for employers to undercut their workers, and we will continue to name companies who break the law and don’t pay their employees what they are owed.”
Lanna Thai in Dover Street, Canterbury. Picture: Google
Another firm named by the government today is Medway-based Premier Work Support Limited which left 428 people out of pocket between 2015 and 2021. It was forced to stump up £5,272.92, amounting to £12.32 per person.
At the other end of the scale, a single employee from Supercar Italia, a luxury car garage in Biggin Hill, received £4,997.94 after HMRC found it had failed to properly compensate them for 12 months in 2018 and 2019.
Clock House Farm owed 69 workers £136 each on average, with the arrears period between 2017 and 2020.
Two employees at Lanna Thai were repaid £280.
The others on the list are: Kazoku Restaurant Group, Network Tyre & Auto Limited, Total Cleaning South Limited, Temple Farm Limited (trading as Shell), St John’s Road Garage Limited, Hi-Spec Facilities Services Ltd, Vapour C Co Ltd (trading as Vapour Cigarette Company), Viv Designs Ltd and Eastchurch Holiday Centre Limited.
The Department for Business and Trade says a “strong economy can only be built when people have financial security whilst in work and robust enforcement action will be taken against employers who do not pay their staff correctly”.
Across the UK, 518 businesses were found to have failed to pay their workers more than £7.4 million in a breach of the National Minimum Wage law, leaving almost 60,000 people out of pocket.
Eastchurch Holiday Centre on the Isle of Sheppey. Picture: John Nurden
Mr Madders added: “Ensuring workers have the support they need and making sure they receive a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work is a key commitment in our Plan for Change.
“This will put more money in working people’s pockets, helping to boost productivity, and ending low pay.”