Five companies in Kent have been “named and shamed” by the Government for failing to pay workers the full national minimum wage.

The firms owed a total of £3,342.86 to five staff members – one at each of the businesses.

However, many of them have hit back at the Government, saying failure to pay was down to administrative errors, with one describing their name being published as “ridiculous”.

They were among 198 named nationally, which had underpaid a total of £466,219, covering football clubs, hotels, care homes and hairdressers. All the money has since been paid back.

The top 20 worst offending firms accounted for 62% of the total underpayments at £290,272.

The biggest culprit in the county was Instant Service, a Rochester-based company which repairs and sells domestic appliances, which owed a staff member £1,978.68.

In a joint statement, its bosses Robert Goodwin and Paul Coxhead said HMRC investigators stated the underpayment was “a genuine error” and happened when the person overseeing their wages had been suffering ill health, and has since died.

UKP Leisure Club in Sittingbourne, a private-hire venue, underpaid £566.62 to a worker on the minimum wage.

Managing director Mike Farrow said the situation arose when he took on a teenager to become an apprentice who then later decided to leave the company before submitting his forms to begin the course.

He was then told he had to pay more money to the employee because he left after 13 weeks, outside the 12-week window when staff can be paid the apprentice rate before starting the course.

He said: “I think it’s shocking. They have all these big companies to chase – and it is right they are protecting the minimum wage – but they can see we are all above board and not some backstreet corner cafe playing cash-in-hand.

"He left within a 26-week period and we thought we had calculated what he was owed properly. When we were told, we paid up straight away..." - Tim Lambkin, Kent Coach Travel Ltd

“We are being run legitimately and I am being registered on this list because of one week.”

Hairdresser the Lunatic Fringe in Canterbury owed one of its staff £377.48.

Kent Coach Travel Ltd based in Sheerness, which trades as Travel Masters, underpaid a staff member £294.51.

The firm’s boss Tim Lambkin said: “This was a calculation error. This was one worker who was on a separate contract at his request.

“He left within a 26-week period and we thought we had calculated what he was owed properly. When we were told, we paid up straight away.”

He added: “This was one worker out of 70. We pay way above the living wage, let alone the minimum wage.”

Wendy Hughes, who owns hair salon Nu U 2 in High Street in Milton Regis, Sittingbourne, said the Government has blown the situation out of all proportion.

She was revealed to have underpaid £125.57 to a staff member who worked on Saturdays, which she said was repaid amicably as soon as the error became known.

She said: “I made a mistake, I rectified it and that was that. What more can I say?

“Look how far it has gone. It’s ridiculous. The Government have taken it a bit far over £125.”

Business Minister Margot James, who announced the employers’ names, said: “It is not acceptable that some employers fail to pay at least the minimum wage their workers are entitled to.

“So we’ll continue to crack down on those who ignore the law, including by naming and shaming them.”

The minimum wage is £7.20 for those aged 25 and over, known as the national living wage, £6.70 for ages 21 to 24, £5.30 for 18 to 20, £3.87 for under 18s and £3.30 for first year apprentices or those under the age of 19.

Lunatic Fringe did not respond to requests for comment.