TWO employers in Salisbury have been 'named and shamed' by the government after failing to pay staff the minimum wage.

St. Mark's Pre-School and the Lamb Inn, in Nomansland, were both named in the report, which came out on June 21. 

St. Mark’s Pre-School failed to pay £870.55 to six workers, and Mrs Zara Emma Mason, trading as The Lamb Inn, Salisbury, SP5, failed to pay £1,567.39 to three workers.

More than 200 employers have been named by the government for failing to pay their lowest-paid staff the minimum wage.

The 202 employers were found to have failed to pay their workers almost £5 million in a clear breach of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) law, leaving around 63,000 workers out of pocket.

Companies being named range from major high street brands to small businesses and sole traders, in a clear message from the government that no employer is exempt from paying their workers the statutory minimum wage.

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The businesses named have since paid back what they owe to their staff and have also faced financial penalties. The investigations by His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs concluded between 2017 and 2019.

A statement St. Mark's Pre-School said: "Following a recent government publication the pre-school committee are aware that St Marks Pre-school has been named for not paying staff the minimum wage.

"The pre-school committee would like to reassure you that this was picked up by HMRC following a random check in 2016.

"This was a clerical error linked to the number of days worked within an academic year. HMRC accepted that it was an error made in good faith and levied a small fine.

"The few practitioners involved received back promptly and the pay procedure changed with immediate effect. "

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Zara Mason of the Lamb Inn told the Journal: "In 2018, an unintentional bookkeeping error occurred.

"As soon as we became aware of the mistake, it was rectified.

"Changes were made to our internal procedures to prevent any future occurrence and we have since changed accountants.

"We apologised to the staff at the time and are obviously sorry this ever occurred."

The full report can be read here.