Eleven employers in NI fined for underpaying staff

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Eleven employers in Northern Ireland have been fined for failing to pay the National Living and Minimum Wage to their staff.

More than £38,000 was owed to 222 employees in Northern Ireland.

Roe Park Resort in Limavady in County Londonderry and Dromore Diocesan Trust in County Armagh were among those on the list.

It features 239 UK firms in total, which have to pay £1.44m in back-pay and £1.97m in fines for underpayment.

The back pay identified by HMRC was for more workers than in any previous single naming list.

The earliest underpayment dated back to 2011, with the most recent happening in 2018.

The full list of employers in Northern Ireland, by council area, is:

  • Mr Oliver Kerr, trading as Origin Fresh, Fermanagh and Omagh, failed to pay £10,317.95 to 3 workers

  • Oak Grove Cabins Ltd, Derry City and Strabane, failed to pay £2,728.35 to 1 worker

  • Mrs April Louise Thompson and Miss Nicola Frances Thompson, trading as Baby Maids, Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, failed to pay £3,283.65 to 18 workers

  • Dromore Diocesan Trust, Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, failed to pay £3,844.98 to 3 workers,

  • Hypersync Limited, Newry, Mourne and Down, failed to pay £1,518 to 1 worker,

  • Mr George Nicholl, trading as Nicholl Plaster Mouldings, Lisburn and Castlereagh, failed to pay £281.70 to 1 worker

  • Trackars Limited, Belfast, failed to pay £3,334.55 to 23 workers

  • Sunnymead (Armagh) Limited, trading as Sunnymead Residential Home, Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, failed to pay £6,507.01 to 76 workers

  • Roe Park Holdings Limited, trading as Roe Park Resort, Causeway Coast and Glens, failed to pay £3,399.28 to 46 workers

  • The Tilery Limited, trading as The Tilery Nursing Home, Fermanagh and Omagh, failed to pay £2,423.50 to 33 workers

  • Exact CNC (NI) Ltd, Newry, Mourne and Down, failed to pay £576.16 to 17 workers, with average arrears of £33.89 per worker

How much is the minimum wage?

  • Workers aged 25: £7.83 an hour (the national living wage)

  • Workers aged 21-24: £7.38 an hour

  • Workers aged 18-20: £5.90 an hour

  • Workers aged under 18: £4.20 an hour

Source: UK government

Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley said the government was delivering the National Living and Minimum Wage for every worker in Northern Ireland.

"It is only right that thanks to government investigations, 222 people in Northern Ireland will get the back pay they deserve," she said.

The top five reasons for underpayments were:

  • Taking deductions from wages for costs such as uniforms

  • Underpaying apprentices

  • Failing to pay travel time

  • Misusing the accommodation offset

  • Using the wrong time periods for calculating pay

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