A Culcheth nursery has appeared on the Government's latest national minimum wage underpayment name and shame list, which is not exactly the sort of village publicity anyone wants between the school run and a trip down Common Lane.
ABC Pre-School Limited, based on Ellesmere Road, was named as having been £10,393.39 in arrears to staff. According to the published list, the pre-primary education business employed 16 members of staff, with average arrears of £649.59 per worker.
The underpayments covered the period from the start of May 2017 to the end of October 2020. Investigations by His Majesty's Revenue and Customs concluded between 2015 and 2022, and this case is one of 518 employers and businesses named nationally.
Across the country, nearly 60,000 workers are being repaid more than £7.4 million. The Government says the employers named have since paid back what they owed and faced financial penalties of up to 200 per cent of the underpayment. Good. Paying people properly should not require a detective novel, a spreadsheet, and HMRC turning up with a clipboard.
For context, the 2025 national minimum wage is £12.21 for people aged 21 and over, £10 for those aged 18 to 20, and £7.55 for under-18s or apprentices. Those rates matter, especially in early years work, where staff are trusted with the care of children and should not be left short-changed for the privilege.
Minister for Employment Rights Justin Madders said there is no excuse
for employers undercutting workers, adding that the Government will continue to name companies that break the law and fail to pay employees what they are owed. He said fair pay is part of the Government's Plan for Change, aimed at putting more money into working people's pockets and tackling low pay.
Baroness Philippa Stroud, chair of the Low Pay Commission, also said underpayment leaves workers out of pocket and disadvantages the majority of employers who do follow the rules. Quite right too, because honest local businesses should not be competing with anyone trimming wages like it's a supermarket coupon.
It is worth noting the Government says not every minimum wage underpayment is deliberate. Payroll rules can be messy, mistakes can happen, and nobody sensible should pretend otherwise. But when staff are owed over £10,000, the result is still the same for the people waiting on that money, and in a village like Culcheth, reputation travels faster than the 19 bus when you are already late.
The original report appeared via the Warrington Guardian and carried a note that it was part of an exclusive subscriber partnership with sister title USA Today, written by American colleagues and not necessarily reflecting the view of The Herald. A slightly odd detour for a Culcheth wage story, admittedly, but the facts published by the Government are the important bit here.
Support and advice around pay rights is linked nationally to gov.uk/checkyourpay, Acas, HMRC, and gov.uk/pay-and-work-rights. The bigger point for Culcheth is simple enough: childcare staff do vital work, and paying them correctly is not a bonus feature, it is the bare minimum.