CODONA'S amusement park in Aberdeen and Baxter's Food Group are among the Scottish companies to be named and shamed for failing to pay some of their staff the minimum wage.
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) released a list of 518 employers and businesses that underpaid workers over several years, which included big brands like Pizza Express, Lidl, British Airways and Capita.
It means pay for some staff fell short of the national minimum wage, or the national living wage, which is what the Government calls the minimum wage for those aged over 21.
All the workers left short will be repaid a combined £7.4 million, following investigations by HMRC between 2015 and 2022.
The national living wage was £11.44 in the year to the end of March, and has risen to £12.21 since April.
The minimum wage for 18-20-year-olds rose to £10 this year, and for those aged under 18 it rose to £7.55.
Justin Madders (below), the minister for employment rights, 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.”
The Government said that not all minimum wage underpayments are intentional, but those who do not pay staff correctly will be penalised.
The businesses named on Thursday faced financial penalties of up to 200% of the total amount they underpaid.
See the full list of Scottish companies here
- Scottish Midland Co-operative Society Limited, Newbridge, EH28, failed to pay £186,883.56 to 1,795 workers.
- R.T. Stuart Limited, Methil, KY8, failed to pay £37,384.89 to 310 workers.
- Freedom Hotels West Limited, Nr Fort William, PH49, failed to pay £26,814.06 to 37 workers.
- Baxters Food Group Limited, Fochabers, IV32, failed to pay £19,765.00 to 62 workers.
- Thrive Childcare and Education Limited, Musselburgh, EH21, failed to pay £19,420.47 to 24 workers.
- Mr Orhan Esen, Dumfries, DG1, failed to pay £8,513.17 to 5 workers.
- Head Office Hair and Beauty (Scotland) Ltd., Glasgow, G61, failed to pay £6,803.01 to 2 workers.
- The Stair Arms Hotel Ltd, Midlothian, EH37, failed to pay £6,787.54 to 1 person
- McDonald & Munro Limited, Elgin, IV30, failed to pay £6,436.10 to 2 workers.
- Robertson Facilities Management Limited, Elgin, IV30, failed to pay £5,864.37 to 51 workers.
- Ghani Systems Ltd, Glasgow, G42, failed to pay £5,209.68 to 15 workers.
- Mr Muhammed Afzal Jabarkhail , Clydebank, G81, failed to pay £4,873.12 to 1 worker.
- Mr Amir Rasool, Zara Continental Hotel & Restaurant, Dumfries, DG13, failed to pay £4083.79 to 1 worker
- DSM Joinery Contractors Limited, Dunfermline, KY11, failed to pay £3,905.50 to 2 workers.
- Ms Stacey Baker, Doune, FK16, failed to pay £3,582.87 to 1 worker.
- Oshibori Scotland Ltd, Dundee, DD1, failed to pay £3,328.44 to 5 workers.
- Little Flowers Limited, Renfrewshire, G75, failed to pay £3,162.05 to 1 worker
- Spanners & Sparks (EK) Limited, Glasgow, G75, failed to pay £3,093.15 to 5 workers.
- KEYSIGNS LIMITED, Bellshill, ML4, failed to pay £2,851.78 to 4 workers.
- Mr Andy B Fitzsimmons, Mr Ford B Fitzsimmons and Mrs Theresa G Fitzsimmons, Kilwinning, KA13, failed to pay £2,694.78 to 15 workers.
- Calmac Developments Limited, Dumfries, DG2, failed to pay £2,583.77 to 17 workers.
- The Clansmans Rest Ltd, Glasgow, G40, failed to pay £2,417.22 to 3 workers.
- Mockingbird Lane Ltd, Glasgow, G11, failed to pay £2,387.07 to 1 worker.
- Mr Patrick G Neilan, Glasgow, G43, failed to pay £2,383.29 to 2 workers.
- Mr Iain Stewart Matheson, Paisley, PA1, failed to pay £2,036.50 to 6 workers.
- GLASGOW WATERLOO LIMITED, Glasgow, G2, failed to pay £2,020.36 to 41 workers.
- Mr Thomas Hutchison, Prestonpans, EH32, failed to pay £1,901.44 to 1 worker.
- John Clark (Holdings) Limited , Aberdeen, AB12, failed to pay £1,785.63 to 5 workers.
- Karen Jeffrey , Wishaw, ML2, failed to pay £1,683.58 to 4 workers.
- Executive Hire Ltd., Glasgow, G74, failed to pay £1,650.54 to 3 workers.
- Shakes n Cakes Aberdeen Ltd, Aberdeen, AB24, failed to pay £1,597.98 to 1 worker.
- Sher Gill Enterprises Limited, Dunoon, PA23, failed to pay £1,557.58 to 1 worker.
- Biscuit Clothing Ltd, Edinburgh, EH10, failed to pay £1,469.89 to 1 worker.
- ENERGY DUNDEE 4 U LTD , Dundee, DD4, failed to pay £1,263.65 to 15 workers.
- Mrs Melanie Elizabet Brown, Kirkcaldy, KY1, failed to pay £986.58 to 1 worker.
- KR Scotland Ltd, Edinburgh, EH3, failed to pay £849.21 to 3 workers.
- Le Petit Francais Ltd, Edinburgh, EH6, failed to pay £744.52 to 10 workers.
- Craig Gordon Building Services Ltd, Edinburgh, EH11, failed to pay £680.17 to 1 worker.
- Mountview Hotels Ltd, Callander, FK17, failed to pay £672.60 to 1 worker.
- MacDonald Hotels (Management) Limited, Bathgate, EH48, failed to pay £648.78 to 1 worker.
- Legacy Resorts Limited, Newton Stewart, DG8, failed to pay £536.69 to 1 worker.
- David Alexander Forbes, Inverurie, AB51, failed to pay £531.64 to 2 workers.
- Shree Siddhi Limited, Glasgow, G66, failed to pay £515.76 to 7 workers.
- John Codona’s Pleasure Fairs Limited, Aberdeen, AB24, failed to pay £505.82 to 3 workers.
A spokesperson for Baxters Food Group said: “Baxters Food Group has always met its obligations to pay its employees at least the minimum wage. The fine from HMRC relates to an oversight in the structure of an historical Christmas Savings Scheme we had set up in good faith to help our employees.
"As the money was paid into the scheme directly from their pay before it reached their bank accounts, HMRC determined that we had retained funds from our employees. All employees who contributed to the scheme received their savings in full and compensation following the decision by HMRC. The scheme has not been in operation since 2019.”
The figures across the UK
Capita, one of the Government’s biggest suppliers with major public sector contacts, was top of the list, owing £1.15 million to 5543 workers.
This meant individual employees were underpaid about £208 on average.
A spokesman for Capita said it was “inadvertent underpayments” between 2015 and 2021, due to some issues including adding 25 minutes per week for call centre staff to log in for their shifts.
“All owed monies were paid immediately, and we are sorry for any impact this had on colleagues and former colleagues at that time,” the company added.
“Our processes and systems were updated to ensure there would be no further issues; we have continued to monitor them carefully, as well as any changes to employment regulations.”
Pizza Express failed to pay £760,702 to 8,470 workers – amounting to about £90 on average.
A spokeswoman for Pizza Express said: “Once we were made aware of this historic unintentional technicality, which occurred between 2012 and 2018, we swiftly identified who was impacted, apologised and rectified.
“There’s nothing more important to us than fairly and accurately paying our team members.”
Lidl was also high on the list, having owed £286,437 to 3,423 employees.
And British Airways was named for failing to pay £231,276 to 2,165 workers.
Meanwhile, smaller groups of employees were underpaid larger sums by some British companies – such as hotel chain Hilton UK which underpaid 20 members of staff an average of £946 each.
Restaurant chain Prezzo, motoring and cycling retailer Halfords, and travel group Tui were also found to have been underpaying some workers over several years.
Lidl, and British Airways have been contacted for comment.
