Two Swindon employment agencies which are part of the same business have been named and shamed by the government for short-changing nearly 300 workers.

Wise Employment (Swindon) Ltd and Smart Recruitment Solutions (Swindon) Ltd are among 191 businesses named for breaking the national minimum wage law.

A CCTV company based in Swindon is also on the list of firms investigated by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.

The employment agencies today said the breach related to money mistakenly deducted from wages – and that the temps involved were immediately reimbursed.

The breaches took place between 2011 and 2018 but have not been officially publicised by the government until today.

The employers on today’s list were found to have owed a total of £2.1 million to more than 34,000 workers.

All have since been made to pay what they owed, and in total were fined an additional £3.2 million.

The government issues its name-and-shame list every few months, with the last one published last December. In 2018, it paused the publication of the list for two years to review whether it was an effective way to deter minimum wage offenders.

The breaches in the Swindon area on the list are:

:: Wise Employment (Swindon) Limited, Swindon, failed to pay £2,266.04 to 181 workers

:: Smart Recruitment Solutions (Swindon) Limited, Swindon, failed to pay £1,596.17 to 112 workers

:: Capture CCTV Solutions Limited, Swindon, failed to pay £622.07 to two workers

Both employment firms are part of the Hyde Road-based Wise Recruitment Group.

In a statement, Wise said: “Wise Employment/Smart Recruitment has always paid the correct hourly rate of national minimum wage, and would never knowingly pay its temporary workers at a lower rate.

"However, deductions made for workwear and administration fees associated with attachment of earnings orders inadvertently resulted in a small proportion of our workforce receiving an effective hourly rate below the national minimum wage.

"Wise Employment/Smart Recruitment immediately changed its processes to ensure this could not happen again, apologised to and reimbursed the affected temporary workers.”

The Adver has requested a comment from Dorcan-based Capture CCTV Solutions.

In April, the government increased the national minimum wage for adults over the age of 23 by 2.2 per cent, from £8.72 to £8.91 an hour.

The list also includes big names such as Pret, John Lewis and Welcome Break.

The government stressed that not all minimum wage underpayments were intentional, but said it had always been the responsibility of employers to check and abide by the law.

Nearly half of the employers on the list had wrongly deducted pay from workers’ wages, including for uniform and expenses. Nearly a third had failed to pay workers for all the time they had worked, such as when they worked overtime, while a fifth had paid the wrong apprenticeship rate.

Business Minister Paul Scully said: “Our minimum wage laws are there to ensure a fair day’s work gets a fair day’s pay – it is unacceptable for any company to come up short. All employers, including those on this list, need to pay workers properly.

"This government will continue to protect workers’ rights vigilantly, and employers that short-change workers won’t get off lightly.”

Employers who pay workers less than the minimum wage have to pay back arrears of wages to the worker at current minimum wage rates. They also face hefty financial penalties of up to 200 per cent of the arrears - capped at £20,000 per worker – which are paid to the government. Since 2015 the government has ordered employers to repay more than £100 million to a million workers.

Because of the number of breaches affecting apprentices, the government has today published new guidance on apprenticeship pay.

As well as advice for employers, HMRC offers advice for all workers on how to ensure they are being paid correctly via the Check your pay website.

Chair of the Low Pay Commission Bryan Sanderson said: “These are very difficult times for all workers, particularly those on low pay who are often undertaking critical tasks in a variety of key sectors including care. The minimum wage provides a crucial level of support and compliance is essential for the benefit of both the recipients and our society as a whole.”