A Lancashire firm has said it was disappointed to be included on the government's ‘named and shamed’ list of employers paying less than minimum wage.

Kinetic Law, based in Blackburn, appeared on the list alongside 190 other employers after purportedly failing to pay £908 owed to one worker.

The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, which published the list, acknowledged that not all underpayments, taking place between 2011 and 2018, were intentional, but that it was the employer's responsibility to abide by the law.

A spokesperson for Kinetic Law said this was an ‘unfortunate isolated incident’ due to a third party over which the firm did not have direct control. Measures have since been implemented to prevent any reoccurrence.

He said: ‘Kinetic Law were disappointed to note that their name appeared on the government list, as they have always strived to ensure that all their staff are well looked after and paid more than the minimum wage. Unfortunately in this instance, there was a miscommunication between our payroll agents and the status of one temporary member of staff. Upon this being brought to our attention, the error of our agents was immediately rectified.’

The firm appeared alongside companies with hundreds and even thousands of minimum wage breaches. This included John Lewis plc, said to have failed to pay £941,000 to more than 19,000 workers (the company said the pay breach happened four years ago and had been fixed).

Almost half of the 191 employers named last week had wrongly deducted pay from workers’ wages, including for uniform and expenses, while 30% failed to pay workers for all the time they had worked, such as when they had done overtime.

Business minister Paul Scully said: ‘All employers, including those on this list, need to pay workers properly.

‘This government will continue to protect workers’ rights vigilantly, and employers that short-change workers won’t get off lightly.’