Translate into Polish or Ukrainian
HMRC confirmed the football club failed to pay 28 workers £14,266.74 in a report published on New Years Eve.
The UK Government did confirm it was later resolved when they were notified of the sums and were issued with a financial penalty.
A spokesman from the club said: “Commencing 2017, HMRC looked at employees across the full spectrum of the club’s activities from the professional football operation and match day staffing to the club’s weekday operations which covered matters such as catering and conferencing.
The outcome of this historic HMRC investigation was that they identified arrears amounting to £14,246 which was due to 28 different employees from the previous five years to 2017.
As required, the club then made arrangements for these former employees to be paid the relevant amounts.
Twenty five of the twenty eight employees were apprentice footballers with the Club. Due to the absence of written evidence to support our position in relation to hours worked as opposed to the actual rate of pay, the club was unable to disprove HMRC’s estimate of the average hours worked per week by these employees.
The hours of work undertaken by our apprentices was fully reviewed and changes were implemented immediately following HMRC’s outcome.
The perceived failure to pay three other employees the National Minimum Wage related to voluntary deductions from pay by these employees.
The Club prides itself in treating our staff fairly and we are extremely disappointed to find ourselves in a position whereby we are criticised for failing to meet National Minimum Wage requirements.”
Employers who pay workers less than the minimum wage have to pay back arrears of wages to the worker at current minimum wage rates. They also face hefty financial penalties of up to 200% of arrears – capped at £10,000 per worker – which are paid to the government.
A total of 139 companies failed to pay £6.7 million to over 95,000 workers.
