Government names 389 employers over minimum wage underpayment as penalties reach £12.6m

The government named 389 employers on Monday for failing to pay the minimum wage, with around £12.6 million in penalties issued across the group.

The penalties come on top of the repaid wages, so the cost to the employers named is higher than the fines alone.

Over £7.3 million in pay has been directly repaid to workers who were denied it, the government said.

Around 60,000 workers were found to have been underpaid, and the named businesses are spread across the whole of the UK.

The Business Secretary said the government was cracking down on employers who underpay, and that the Fair Work Agency would have “more muscle” to make sure workers get what they are owed.

ISS Mediclean tops the list at £1,506,959.68

The list includes businesses in social care, sports and retail, among other sectors, with household names alongside small firms.

The largest case is ISS Mediclean Limited, of Weybridge, which failed to pay £1,506,959.68 to 6,580 workers.

ISS Facility Services Limited, also of Weybridge, is second, having failed to pay £754,760.14 to 5,378 workers.

Third is Browns Manufacturing Limited, of Sanquhar, at £708,731.99 for 1,654 workers, followed by Busy Bees Nurseries Limited at £485,374.05 for 9,056 workers.

Bupa Care Services Limited is fifth at £441,439.54 for 8,810 workers, and Hays Travel Limited sixth at £364,103.51 for 2,463 workers.

At the other end, Blue Bistro Ltd, of South Shields, is listed as having failed to pay £454.74 to 18 workers.

Employers have 28 days to appeal a Notice of Underpayment

A Notice of Underpayment sets out the wages an employer owes, together with the penalty for breaking minimum wage law, the government said in its earlier description of the naming scheme.

Employers have 28 days to appeal to HMRC against the notice, and those who do not appeal, or lose, can be considered for naming.

Under the scheme as revised from 1 October 2013, the government names every employer issued with a notice unless an exceptional criterion applies or arrears are £100 or less.

Those criteria are a risk of personal harm from naming, national security concerns, or other factors making naming against the public interest, and employers have 14 days to make their case.

The minimum wage can be enforced by HMRC compliance officers or by a worker making a claim in an employment tribunal or court, HMRC guidance for employers said.

A round of 48 names on 24 March 2015 brought the total under the revised regime to 210 employers, with arrears of over £635,000 and penalties of over £248,000.

Fair Work Agency was due in April 2026

The Fair Work Agency was due to be set up in April 2026 as an executive agency of the Department for Business and Trade.

It will bring together HMRC’s National Minimum Wage Unit with the Gangmaster and Labour Abuse Authority, the Director of Labour Market Enforcement and the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate.

Its enforcement officers will be able to issue Notices of Underpayment requiring employers to pay workers what they are due and to pay a penalty to government.

Enforcement of holiday pay and Statutory Sick Pay will follow in later stages, and the government has said it will set out the timetable in due course.

The Low Pay Commission estimates that 19.4% of workers paid at or around the wage floor were underpaid the minimum wage in 2024, around 371,000 employee jobs.

Further minimum wage increases will give the lowest earners aged over 21 an annual pay rise of £900 for full-time work, the government said.