Bolton businesses named for not paying minimum wage

A total of 524 employers were named as having not paid the minimum wage by the Government on Tuesday, February 20 – with 172,000 workers said to have been out of pocket due to the breaches.

Nationwide, businesses including Greggs, Moss Bros, Currys, Stonegate – which owns pub chains Yates and Slug & Lettuce, and Sky were among well-known brands named and shamed for failing to pay the minimum wage – with businesses facing financial penalties of up to 200 per cent of their underpayment.

In Bolton, two companies were named: Jewelglen Limited, trading as Parkview Residential Home, and glazing company Martindales Limited.

Martindales Limited is based on Union Road (Image: Google)

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The government list stated that Parkview had amassed wage arrears totalling £595.29 between August 2017 and April 2020, while Martindales Limited had amassed £9,494.54 of arrears between April 2014 and March 2020.

In a statement attributed to a spokesperson, Martindales said: “This was a genuine error and was quickly rectified following a review with HMRC.”

Parkview’s registered manager Wendy Dickinson told The Bolton News that the underpayment was due to a ‘technical issue’ which affected the wages of around 13 employees, and that they had been repaid after the problem was identified.

Parkview Care Home (Image: Google)

While the care home could not disclose the specific deductions it said, for example, that the cost of a DBS background check may be deducted from an employee’s wage, with the software used to calculate these deductions said to have introduced the error.

Wendy said: “You can categorically state that we’ve nothing to hide, we’ve absolutely nothing to hide in what we do.

“At the end of the day, sometimes there are mistakes that are made that are human mistakes, but we can categorically, 100 per cent say that under no circumstances did we ever intently do that – it was a short period of time, it was through deductions from salary.”

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Wendy added that a new system had been put in place by the company to prevent the issue from reoccurring.

She added: “The care sector needs lots of things, they are being paid minimum wage and really I think we should be looking at improving our care sector.

“We pride ourselves on the home that we have and the staff that we have, we’re very open and transparent.”

Commenting on the situation nationwide, minister for Enterprise, Markets and Small Business Kevin Hollinrake said: “Employees deserve to get paid properly for the hard work they put in.

“While the majority of businesses already do the right thing and pay their staff what they are owed, today’s announcement sends a message to the minority who aren’t - that there are repercussions to undercutting hard work from their staff.”

Whilst the Government says it recognises not all minimum wage underpayments are intentional, it adds that it has been clear that anyone entitled to be paid the minimum wage should receive it, and that enforcement action will be taken against employers who do not pay their staff correctly.

Independent Commissioner at the Low Pay Commission, Patricia Rice, said: “Since its introduction nearly twenty-five years ago, the national minimum wage has played a vital role in protecting the earnings of the lowest-paid workers in the UK. 

“At a time when the cost-of-living is rising, it is more important than ever that these workers receive the pay to which they are entitled.

“National minimum wage underpayment not only cheats workers of their rightful due, it leaves compliant firms undercut by those who do not abide by the law.

“By naming the firms responsible for significant underpayment, we raise awareness of the nature and the scale of underpayment and encourage all employers to ensure that they fully comply with the law.”

If you have a story, I cover the whole borough of Bolton. Please get in touch at jack.fifield@newsquest.co.uk.