Lancashire based firm Daniel Thwaites issues statement after being named as having underpaying staff

Yesterday, we reported on a newly released investigation by HM Revenue & Customs, conducted between 2015-2022, that revealed which firms across the UK had failed to pay their staff the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage

Using the HMRC data, the Department for Business and Trade released a list of all 518 the businesses who had underpaid staff, and 18 of these were in Lancashire.

The 18 Lancashire firms that were named and shamed had overall underpaid 224 employees by a total of £80,354.98.

One of the featured firms was Mellor Brook based beer manufacturer Daniel Thwaites Public Limited Company who had underpaid 23 employees by a total of £724.73 between 18/1/2019 and 23/10/2020 meaning they were owed £31.51 each.

Following this revelation the firm has however issued a statement explaining why they did fail to pay staff the minimum wage during this period.

A spokesperson for Thwaites said: “Following the acquisition of two pubs, a historical issue was found dating back to 2019 and 2020 with uniform-related costs that were not obtained via the company’s standard uniform ordering process. This amounted to an average of £31.51 each for 23 workers.

“Once we were made aware of the issue it was immediately rectified – with us moving quickly to identify who was impacted, apologise and swiftly reimburse those affected at the time.

“Immediate improvements were also made to our uniform ordering process to ensure any new businesses we acquire are familiarised with our company policies, processes and systems to fully comply with regulations.”