Car wash and other Colchester employers didn't pay minimum wage

Turner Road HCW Ltd, which previously ran a car wash in the city before the company was dissolved last year, was found to have arrears for six workers totalling more than £2,100.

It comes after government data published this week showed more than 500 employers across the country were found to have failed to pay their workers almost £16million in a clear breach of national minimum wage law.

As a result, more than 172,000 workers have been left out of pocket.

HMRC investigations into the named businesses, which have since paid back what they owe to their staff but faced financial penalties, concluded between 2015 and 2023.

A hand car wash in Colchester was among the businesses named by the government (Image: Unsplash)

The companies named range from high street giants 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.

They have all since repaid what they owed to their staff and have faced fines of up to 200 per cent of their underpayment.

National chains didn't pay minimum wage

National employers Greggs, Moss Bros, Currys, Stonegate Pubs, Game, River Island, Barchester Healthcare, B&Q, Sequence, DHL, Wickes, and Connells, which all employ staff in north Essex, were also among the 524 businesses named by the government.

Mitchells and Butlers, which runs the Toby Carvery restaurants in Colchester and Clacton and Harvester and Miller and Carter Colchester, was one of the worst offenders having failed to pay more than £565,000 to 16,187 workers.

Business minister Kevin Hollinrake

Business minister 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.”

Patricia Rice, independent commissioner at the Low Pay Commission, said the national minimum wage has protected the lowest-paid workers for almost 25 years.

“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,” she added.