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Cardiff agent exposed for not paying National Minimum Wage

Agent is one of 230 companies named and shamed within list published by government.

Nigel Lewis

national minimum wage A letting agent in Cardiff has appeared in a list of over 200 companies in the UK for underpaying their staff the National Minimum Wage.

Kingston City Properties, which trades as Kingstons Residential and is based in the central Cathays area of Cardiff, is one of the 230 companies who the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has identified as underpaying wages and fined a total of £1.9 million.

Kingston City Properties has been going since 1999 and its letting business is well known in Cardiff as it sponsors the Cardiff Met rugby team.

The companies on the list must also return the unpaid wages, which in the case of Kingston City Properties is £636 unpaid to one employee.

This is the 12th round of ‘naming and shaming’ that BEIS has initiated and there are currently 2,000 firms under investigation at the moment.

Once a company has been reported and investigated, it can then appeal but, if the appeal is rejected, their name is then published.

BEIS says the latest list represents £2 million in back-pay for some 13,000 workers within the different categories of company, most of which are retail, food, hospitality and hairdressing firms.

Since 2013, the scheme has identified £6 million back pay for 40,000 workers, with 1,200 employers fined £4 million.

National Minimum Wage

BEIS says the most common reasons for paying less than the National Minimum Wage are deducting money from pay packets to pay for uniforms, failure to account for overtime hours, and wrongly paying apprentice rates to workers.

Currents rates for the official minimum wage are £7.50p an hour for anyone over 25 years old, £7.05 for those between 21 and 24, £5,60 for anyone 18 to 20, £4.05 for those under 18 and £3.50p for apprentices.

margot james national minimum wage“It is against the law to pay workers less than legal minimum wage rates, short-changing ordinary working people and undercutting honest employers,” says Business Minister Margot James (pictured, left).

“Today’s naming round identifies a record £2 million of back pay for workers and sends the clear message to employers that the government will come down hard on those who break the law.”

 

August 17, 2017

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