A WIRRAL hairdressers’ is among 25 employers named and shamed by the Government after they failed to pay their staff the national minimum wage.

Renaissance, in Heswall, underpaid three workers a total of £7,310.65.

The Telegraph Road salon was just one of 25 employers named in the list published by the Department for Business as part of a new crackdown.

The Wheatsheaf Inn, in Cheshire, was also named and shamed after it neglected to pay £2,057.88 to five workers.

Between them the 25 employers owe workers more than £43,000 in arrears and face fines totalling more than £21,000.

It is the biggest number of employers publicly named since a new regime was announced last year.

The Government also plans to increase fine, so that an employer underpaying 10 workers could face penalties of up to £200,000.

Business Minister Jenny Willott said: "Paying less than the minimum wage is not only wrong, it's illegal. If employers break the law they need to know that they will face tough consequences.

"Any worker who is entitled to the minimum wage should receive it. If anyone suspects they are not being paid the wage they are legally entitled to they should call the Pay and Work Rights helpline on 0800 917 2368."

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "This should send a clear message that dodging the minimum wage does not pay."

Lynn Collins, TUC’s north west regional secretary said: “It is shocking that so many employers – including some who pay their star players millions of pounds a year – are cheating low-paid workers out of the minimum wage.

“The penalties won by HMRC – which the government has rightly decided should be even bigger – should be a clear deterrent to any bad boss thinking about short changing their staff. We also need to see more of these immoral companies named and shamed.

“HMRC staff deserve credit for winning back millions of pounds for cheated employees but they need greater resources to catch the many minimum wage crooks still out there.”