A BUSINESS owner who was named and shamed for failing to pay the minimum wage says she was surprised to be included in the Government list.

Julie Anne Rickett, trading as Chevalian Stud in Dudleston Heath, was listed as failing to pay £4,505.36 to one employee in the latest list which was revealed last week.

But she told the Advertizer that matter had already been resolved.

Mrs Rickett said: "Going back 10 years ago we employed a groom who came with two horses so we deducted their pay for the livery of the two horses.

"But then it came back that we had not paid the proper wages."

She explained that the money had been paid back and the option had been given to claim the livery charge back but that would have meant taking the employee to court.

Some of the big firms in the recent list included John Lewis, The Body Shop, Pret A Manger, and football clubs Sheffield United and Coventry City.

Mrs Rickett said she had seen a story about the recent list on the national news, adding: "It brought back a lot of what had happened at the time.

"I don't agree with people not paying minimum wage and I would never do it.

"We had to pay back the wages but it wasn't worth taking the matter to court to claim what we were owed."

In total 191 businesses were named for breaking national minimum wage law.

It follows investigations by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs which revealed a total of £2.1 million was found to be owed to over 34,000 workers.

The breaches took place between 2011 and 2018.

Business Minister Paul Scully explained that whilst not all minimum wage underpayments are intentional, it has always been the responsibility of all employers to abide by the law.

He continued: "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."

The Naming Scheme was paused in 2018 so that an evaluation into its effectiveness could be carried out.

In February 2020, the Government announced that the Naming Scheme would resume, and the last round took place in December 2020.