Football clubs among those named and shamed for not paying staff minimum wage

A total of 260 employers have been highlighted, including 28 in Scotland, who will be fined a total of £1.3 million.

Some 92 Scottish workers were identified who were entitled to receive back £116,697.

Retail, hospitality and hairdressing were the most prolific sectors named by the UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

UK-wide, Sports Direct and two recruitment agencies which supplied staff to the retail giant was among those named and shamed, as well as Primark Stores in Reading.

Minister for Scotland Lord Duncan said the UK Government would not "not stand by while companies diddle workers out of their pay".

Among those highlighted as the worst culprits in Scotland was Motherwell F.C. which was shown to have failed to pay £2,755.34 to 12 workers.

A spokesman for the club said this had been notified through an assessment by the HMRC in May this year.

He said: "This was an administrative error on the club’s part. The full amount was immediately paid to employees in full."

Alongside this was Greenock Morton F.C. which failed to pay £2,382.46 to six workers. The club was approached for a comment.

Falkirk Athletic was also identified as failing to pay £494.51 to one worker.

A spokesman said this related to a player who signed for the club in 2013 and that a "full payment to the player in question was made as soon as the error had been identified".

He added: "Lessons were learned from this unfortunate situation and all minimum wage guidelines have been stringently followed since."

Family-run business, Edward Mackay Contractor Ltd, which operates from bases in Brora and Beauly, was also listed for failing to pay the large sum of £51,403.65 to four of it workers.

The business was approached by the Herald for a comment.

Also mentioned on the list was Barrhead Travel who failed to pay £994.56 to one worker. It said the incident related to a franchise company underpaying a member of staff.

A spokeswoman from Barrhead Travel said: “This was due to human error and was discovered through an independent audit prior to HMRC raising the issue.

A payment was made immediately to the employee affected and the franchise operator – B&E Travel - apologised."

Lord Duncan said: "The UK Government's National Living Wage was established to ensure that everyone, everywhere, receives a decent income.

"It is unacceptable that some companies in Scotland still think they can get away with underpaying their staff.

"The UK Government will not stand for it, and will continue to ‘name and shame ‘ until all workers are properly paid."

Uk-wide, the Best Connection group failed to pay the most of any of the companies named - almost £470,000 to 2,558 workers, the Business Department said.

Sports Direct was said to have failed to pay £167,000 to 383 workers, which the company said related to an issue in its warehouse, widely publicised last year.

Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner said it had worked to expose the "Victorian" work practices at the company, though it was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to bosses "ripping workers off in the shadows away from the public glare".

A Sports Direct spokesman said: "This matter relates to the historical situation in our warehouse that was widely publicised in 2016, for which we apologised at the time.

"We co-operated fully with HMRC to make back payments to Sports Direct staff who were affected.

"We are committed to treating all our people with dignity and respect, and we pay above the national minimum wage."

Other employers on the list included Primark Stores in Reading and Bristol Rovers FC.

Tim Roache, general secretary of the GMB, said: "These companies rake in millions of pounds in profit yet seemingly think it's ok to cheat workers who are already paid a pittance out of the wages they are legally entitled to."

Since 2013, around £8 million has been identified in back pay for 58,000 workers, with 1,500 employers fined a total of £5 million.