SIX Oxfordshire employers have appeared on a Government list of firms failing to pay one or more workers the National Minimum Wage.

A total of 198 companies have been publicly named in the latest list, owing £466,219 in arrears to employees, all of which has since been paid back.

Among them are:

  • Woods Hair Ltd, trading as Chapters Hair Design, Witney, Oxfordshire, owed £3,676.87 to 1 worker

  • Mr Nicholas & Mrs Christina Winstone-Partridge, trading as Wholesale Autoparts, Kidlington, Oxfordshire, owed £2,691.73 to 1 worker

  • The Buck Project Ltd, Chalgrove, Oxfordshire, owed £1,915.15 to 1 worker

  • Mr Ronald Archibald Mutton and Mrs Sandra Anne Mutton, trading as A1 Plumbing & Heating, Oxford, owed £1,834.13 to 1 worker

  • The Dinner Bell Ltd, trading as The Chequers, Churchill, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, owed £1,190.68 to 1 workers

  • Mrs Ruth Elizabeth Goff & Mrs Enid Elizabeth Butt, trading as Cotswold Equine Training, Burford, Oxfordshire, owed £268.72 to 1 worker

The National Minimum Wage was introduced in October 2013. Since then 688 employers have been listed by the government as owing more than £3.5m to employees between them.

Business minister Margot James said: "This government is determined to build an economy that works for everyone, not just the privileged few.

"That means making sure everyone gets paid the wages they are owed – including our new, higher, National Living Wage. It is not acceptable that some employers fail to pay at least the minimum wage their workers are entitled to."

Sam Curtis, a director at the Chapters salon in Witney, said the single recipient in question had been employed by a previous company, before Chapters took over.

She said: "It was unfair at the time but we couldn't do anything about it; we corrected it and back-paid her.

"There has only ever been that one person. We go out of our way to make sure everybody is paid the correct wage."

Ron Mutton, who has run A1 Plumbing & Heating for the past 50 years, said at his firm a "mix-up" had taken place with a particular employee's initial payments and tool allowances.

He added: "It was a complicated issue and it got a bit out of hand but it's all sorted out now, with no animosity."

The Buck Project in Chalgrove works with people overcoming substantial obstacles to work through apprenticeships, work placements and peer mentoring.

Spokesman Tim Barker said: "When that person was working for us, the prison authority, which is government-controlled, said that you cannot pay them more than a certain amount per day.

"How do you get around that?"

Wholesale Autoparts and the Chequers in Churchill have been contacted for comment.