HUNDREDS of businesses including WH Smith, M&S and Argos have been named and shamed after being fined for not paying workers the minimum wage.

Firms from sole traders to household names were ordered to repay 63,000 staff lost wages totalling close to £5m, after breaching National Minimum Wage (NMW) law.

WH Smith topped the list for failing to pay more than £1m to over 17,000 workers, closely followed by Lloyds Pharmacy, which had to repay over £900,000 to almost 8,000 of its staff.

Supermarket and clothing retailer M&S failed to pay more than 5,000 employees almost £580,000, while Argos, owned by Sainsbury's, repaid over 10,000 workers over £480,000.

Bingo operator Buzz Group also failed to pay close to £320,000 to more than 3,000 staff.

Small business minister Kevin Hollinrake said: "Paying the legal minimum wage is non-negotiable and all businesses should know better than to short change hard-working staff."

The 202 businesses were cumulatively fined a further £7m, payable to

HMRC, in what ministers said was a "clear message from government that no employer is exempt".

The Department for Business and International Trade and HMRC refused to tell City A.M. how many companies were also fined, and by how much.

A spokesperson for WH Smith said the lapse was "a genuine error" and was "rectified immediately".

Spokespersons for Sainsbury's and M&S said similar, with the former citing "a payroll error" and the latter "an unintentional technical issue" taking place over four years ago.

(c) 2023 City A.M., source Newspaper