EAST Lancashire’s Michelin-starred Northcote hotel and restaurant has been ‘named and shamed’ for paying 22 workers less than the National Minimum Wage.

The award-winning gourmet venue is one of six companies in the Ribble Valley, Burnley, Blackburn and Chorley which the government revealed had flouted the low-pay laws.

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Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs ordered their bosses to pay back almost £20,000 to the 28 staff involved with some facing a fine on top.

But bosses from the prosecuted firms defended themselves stating the underpayments were ‘a mistake they were not aware of’ and urged other companies to check they were following the law correctly.

Craig Bancroft, managing director of Northcote hotel and restaurant in Langho, said most of his £6,621.82 underpayment related to the hotel reclaiming cash advances to employees from their subsequent wage packets.

He said: “We fully support the National Minimum Wage.

“Northcote genuinely thought we were trying to help our low-paid staff and were acting within the law but the inspector thought otherwise.”

Colin Woodend of Padiwacks, who was also fined, said: “It was a genuine error we put right immediately.

“We believed we had paid this employee the correct rate for her age and experience but there was some confusion about her transition from an apprenticeship to full-time employment.

“We have ensured it will not happen again.”

He was joined by other bosses involved in saying that some of the regulations regarding the National Minimum and National Living Wages were unclear.

The six East Lancashire firms were on a list of 360 offenders released by the Government which had underpaid 15,520 workers a total of £995,233 over three years.

It was headed by store chain Debenhams, which has an outlet in Blackburn’s The Mall, which had underpaid 11,858 staff a total of £134,894.83.

The six local firms had underpaid a total of £19,528,77.

Northcote, which also supplied catering to Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park and runs Cafe Northcote in the town’s new Cathedral Square report, was also fined around £6,000.

The other firms ‘named and ashamed’ on the government list were:

* Padiwacks Nursery and Out of School Club in Wyre Street, Burnley failed to pay £642.78 to one worker;

* Euro Garages Limited, Blackburn failed to pay £424 to one worker;

* T Gillibrand (Blackburn) Limited, based at Fix Auto in St Clement Street, Blackburn failed to pay £1,536.18 to one worker;

* Morris’s Bakery of Chorley failed to pay £357.09 to two workers; and

* Mrs Elizabeth Purkis trading as The Buttonhole, Chorley failed to pay £9,946.28 to one worker.

The HMRC inspections took place in late 2015 and examined records going back three years.

Mr Bancroft said: “I am very unhappy with HMRC.

“I am angry at being included on this list as we fully support this legislation.

“We have a payroll of £9million and in most cases we were trying to help our low-paid employees.

“They involved things like deducting deposits for accommodation from wages rather than asking for £200 in cash up front, doing the same for chef’s knives we bought at discount, helping out a worker who needed £400 to repair his car and then taking it off his pay packet over four months, and deducting £25-a-week from his pay packet for accommodation for an Italian member of staff whose girlfriend came for an extended stay rather than invoicing him.

“We genuinely though we were acting within the law but the regualtions were unclear and we have now had to stop these benefits.

“There were three cases where because we got the date of people’s birthdays wrong, we paid them the wrong age rate briefly.

“We had to pay a fine roughly equivalent to the amount we repaid to staff immediately.”

A spokesperson for Euro Garages, headquartered in Haslingden Road, Guide and employs 6,000 people nationwide, said: “The case relates to an historic and isolated breach where a site manager at a newly-acquired site failed to follow company protocol and process.

“The matter was fully investigated and resolved as soon as it was brought to our attention.”

The firm paid a £210 fine to HMRC.

The National Living Wage for workers aged 25 and over is £7.20 per hour compared to the National Minimum Wage for 21 to 24-year-olds which is £6.95 per hour.

Business Minister Margot James said: “Every worker in the UK is entitled to at least the national minimum or living wage and this government will ensure they get it.

“That is why we have named and shamed more than 350 employers who failed to pay the legal minimum, sending the clear message to employers that minimum wage abuses will not go unpunished.”